Mayor's budget gives less than requested

The general fund will pay five new police officers.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The police and fire chiefs will get less than they asked for, especially in the overtime category, in the city's austere 2006 budget, if the mayor has his way.
Police Chief John Mandopoulos asked for $4,000,810 in regular wages, but Mayor Michael O'Brien is proposing $3,535,000. The chief called for $135,220 worth of overtime to be paid for through the general fund, but the mayor is calling for only $50,000.
Noting that the city has already spent $108,595 on overtime so far this year, Police Capt. Tim Bowers said the mayor underestimates the need for police overtime.
However, Bowers acknowledged that the need for overtime should be reduced by the planned hiring of five new police officers. The mayor's proposed 2006 budget calls for no new employees to be paid out of the general fund, other than police. The city has 72 police officers, including the chief.
In another general fund department, Fire Chief Ken Nussle called for $4,039,702 in regular wages, but the mayor's proposal is $3,739,702. The fire chief called for $105,000 for overtime, but the mayor cut that to $25,000. The fire department has already spent $76,773 on overtime so far this year.
$74 million budget
City council received the mayor's 242-page proposed 2006 budget Wednesday. It totals about $74 million in all funds combined, including $27 million in the general fund. This year's total is about $71 million, and city Auditor David Griffing said the increase is largely due to inflation.
Griffing said the proposed budget provides for approval of new three-year contracts that have been ratified by firefighters and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union. Council still must act on those agreements. Griffing said the city can afford those contracts.
The contract for the 75 firefighters calls for 2 percent annual pay raises, 2 percent pension pickup by the city and a new health-care plan designed to save the city $144,000 a year.
AFSCME Local 74, which represents 217 city service workers in all departments, would get 1.5 percent annual pay raises. AFSCME workers, whose salaries average about $35,360 a year, have already switched from traditional first-dollar health coverage to a cost-saving preferred-provider organization.
General fund
The mayor's general fund budget for 2006 includes $35,000 for a home-buyers' incentive program, $65,000 for demolition, $15,000 for sidewalk improvements, and $500,000 for street resurfacing and upgrading, none of which were included in the 2005 general fund budget. As was the case this year, no capital expenses would come from the general fund.
The mayor said the city's home-buyers' incentive grant program would be designed to help first-time home buyers whose income slightly exceeds Community Development Agency income limits. Rather than being demolished, some homes could be bought and rehabilitated under this program, the mayor said.
"By tearing these houses down, all you guys are getting is grass that we can't cut," observed Councilwoman Susan E. Hartman, D-7th.
Hartman announced that Councilwoman Virginia Bufano, D-1st, fell Tuesday, broke a disk in her back and underwent surgery Wednesday morning.
Council President Robert Marchese said council members will be sworn in for their new terms at 6 p.m. Dec. 29 in the Municipal Justice Building, 141 South St. S.E.