GIRARD City council to consider balanced 2003 budget

The budget is subject to city council and state fiscal oversight commission approval.
GIRARD -- City council will consider a balanced $3,456,937 draft general fund budget for 2003 with no reduction in police and fire protection when it convenes for a special meeting at 6 p.m. Monday.
The budget, which was presented by city Auditor Sam Zirafi to council's finance committee Friday afternoon, assumes that the municipal court will be financially self-sufficient, surviving on fines, court costs and its fund reserves.
Because Zirafi's budget was $137,000 in the red, the committee made several cuts Friday afternoon to balance the budget:
The city-operated senior citizen transportation van will be cut from $42,000 to $30,000, probably reducing its hours of operation.
The city hall line item, which pays for utilities and maintenance of the building, will be cut from $253,000 to $145,000, likely reducing the level to which the building is heated in the winter.
The engineering and zoning line item will be cut from $17,522 to $9,022 as revenues come in from construction plan approval fees.
The miscellaneous line item will be cut from $142,000 to $133,500.
Needs OKs
The budget, which is about the same as the 2002 budget, is subject to approval by council and the state financial oversight commission, which is overseeing city finances now that the city is in fiscal emergency.
Although the 2003 budget will be balanced, Kathleen O'Connell Sauline, D-2nd, chairwoman of the finance committee, said the city continues to have a cumulative deficit between $1.5 million and $2 million from previous years.
Besides enacting the budget, Sauline said it's essential that the city's actual spending stay within that budget. "The problem was, in 2002, we didn't live within the budget. We passed it, but in many areas, many departments, we overspent," she said.