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Cutbacks, fee hikes to balance budget unveiled for council
That is the $1.1 million in proposed cuts that, combined with $1.1 million in increased water, sewer and permit fees, is expected to balance the city budget for the rest of the fiscal year. Whether the City Council is comfortable enough to vote for it is yet to be seen. City Budget Director Mark Andrews presented the plan to the council's budget and finance committee last night during a four-hour meeting that also saw councilors balk at a proposed tax rate hike for fiscal 2008 that some believe is unrealistic while home foreclosures spike across the city. The committee ended without voting on anything, instead recessing until Monday and asking Andrews to come back with more information. Chief a mong the councilors' concerns was Andrews' assertion that city water and sewer funds have been operating at a deficit for six years. Councilor Gil Frechette, who will leave the council at the end of the year (he chose not to run for re-election), said he needs more information about water and sewer deficits before voting. Council Nilka Alvarez-Rodriguez said the same, though she said at one point that she won't vote for water and sewer rate increases at all. The proposed rate increases, distributed incrementally until July 2009, would raise the water rate 60 cents per 100 cubic feet and the sewer rate 75 cents per 100 cubic feet, bringing the cost to $3.10 and $3.35 per 100 cubic feet, respectively. Andrews promised all information the council asked for, but urged them to work quickly. The increases and cuts must take effect by January, he said, or tax bills won't go out on time. The cut package was applauded by some councilors, including Nunzio DiMarca , who said he has been calling for the ditching of gas cards and city vehicles for a while now. Andrews was stern in his explanation of the cuts package saying "we don't have the money" for employee vacation buy-back, a practice that allows city workers to be paid extra in exchange for not taking vacation time. Gas cards, currently used by police officers and some other city employees, will be collected and destroyed, Andrews said. Fill-ups for cruisers and other city vehicles should happen only at Department of Public Works pumps, saving the city on gas costs, he said.
The cuts package also includes a "renegotiation" of city trash services, an area where Andrews thinks $200,000 can be saved. The late scrambling to reconcile the budget comes after the state Department of Revenue identified $14.7 million in "problems" in the city budget. Many of those were administrative, requiring only a shifting of funds from one spot to another. But others - like $3.2 million in budgeted income from properties that haven't been sold yet - weren't allowed by the state. Andrews' plan also includes an undetailed attempt to cut police overtime. Last week he said all cuts, including layoffs, were on the table to make up the shortfall. The budget committee last night also heard from board of assessors Chairman Joseph Giuffrida and assessor Alex Vega, who reported an expected increase of 78 cents per $1,000 assessed value in the city tax rate for bills to go out in January. That would mean a $ 218 annual increase - to $2,351 - for the average single residential home, valued at $234,949. The bill for an average two-family home, valued at $302,534, would go up $306 to $3,028. The committee voted to allow a public hearing on that rate without actually endorsing the increase. Alvarez-Rodriguez and Frechette both said they found it unrealistic to expect increased income from taxes while city residents are in tough financial shape. Tax Collector Patti Cook reported that only about 84 to 88 percent of billed taxes are actually paid to the city. And even that number, she said, is declining. |
