HUBBARD Council passes a reduced 2003 budget

Council will be tinkering with the budget early next year.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
HUBBARD -- Just one day before the deadline, city council passed a sharply reduced 2003 general fund budget without immediately laying off anyone.
That budget, which council approved Monday, shows expenditures of $1,696,285, which total $6,437 more than anticipated revenues of $1,689,848. That's because council added $7,000 to pay part-time police officers.
Next year's budget compares with year-to-date expenditures this year of $1,931,613 and revenues of $1,755,000, with an apparent shortfall of $176,613 as of Monday, said City Auditor Mike Villano.
Council will begin work on 2003 budget adjustments in the opening days of the new year, Villano said. Already deleted from the budget is $55,000 for one full-time police officer position.
Council will have to decide soon what to do about that position "because, when we get to the fourth quarter, we're not going to have any money there to pay that person," Villano said.
"Our general budget in total cannot exceed what we have coming in. ... We can't spend more money than we have," said Councilman John Marshall.
Under the Fraternal Order of Police union contract, all part-time police department personnel, including school crossing guards, must be laid off if a full-time police officer is laid off, said Safety Director Robert Paterniti.
Two votes
Council had at first passed the budget by a 4-3 vote on its third reading, with council members Bonnie Viele, William Williams, Doug Rohrer and Ray Farkas voting in favor, and Marshall, Lisha Baumiller and Rick Keenan against.
But Mayor George Praznik explained that, even if he signed the budget immediately, it wouldn't take effect under those circumstances for 30 days and the city wouldn't be able to meet payroll before then.
After the mayor made his remarks, council voted unanimously to reconsider and then to approve the budget. Five of seven council members had to vote in favor for it to pass as an emergency and become effective immediately, Villano said.
Villano had earlier explained that the city is plagued by escalating costs, a sluggish economy, reduced interest income, and frozen state funding. The city faces the prospect of fiscal emergency in 2004 if its $600,000 in reserves is depleted, he said.
Council President John Darko suggested Monday that the city's 1 percent income tax, which has been in effect since 1972, might be increased.
Union members at meeting
Seated in the audience Monday were about 20 people, many of them city employees belonging to American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union Local 1256, who wore signs hanging from their necks saying: "The city is not negotiating in good faith. City workers deserve a fair contract."
Joseph Sheridan, president of the union local, left the meeting before he could be interviewed and could not be reached later by telephone to comment.
The city is in labor negotiations with AFSCME and the Fraternal Order of Police. AFSCME, whose contract expires today, represents 29 city employees in various departments, including the street, water, sewer, and light departments. The FOP represents police officers and dispatchers.