Council addresses budget concerns

The city auditor is concerned about the city's year-end balance.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- City council is considering hiring a temporary firefighter and may start charging developers for plan reviews.
The proposed moves were discussed Thursday at a series of council committee meetings that examined the good and bad in the city's budget.
Treasurer James Armeni said the administration is looking at a 3 percent budget carryover for 2005, as compared to up to 8 percent in recent years.
"We are concerned," Armeni said.
Firefighters
Safety director Scott Cranmer outlined the civil service process used to replace one fireman this year. The safety committee told him to start the process to hire another.
The plan by the city and Perry Township to eliminate their existing fire departments and form a joint fire district is on hold in court. The city is angered by the fire department's overtime this year -- some $73,000 as compared to $30,000 two years ago.
But firefighters have been critical of council's slow response to filling positions that increased the overtime.
The committee will also seek legislation to be able to hire a temporary fireman for up to six months to save funds until a vacancy is filled. Michael Burns, head of the firefighters union, said he had no problem with the idea of the temporary worker.
The finance committee recommended payment of $14,000 in legal bills as part of the fire district legal battle.
Committee chairwoman Nancy Cope commented, "If we did not have to spend so much time in court, the cost wouldn't be so high."
Armeni told the committee the city plans to convert some debts from notes to bonds with a low repayment rate of 4.8 percent. City officials said they are also watching fuel and electricity costs.
Plan reviews
Safety Director Joseph Julian and housing inspector Pat Morrissey suggested to the rules and ordinances committee that the city start making developers pay for plan reviews.
Normally, the city has only a few plans each year that require reviews by the city's engineering firm. The city has been paying the cost.
But Julian said that as the city grows, developers for smaller projects are submitting poorly-designed plans that change many times. Each submission to the engineering firm is another cost to the city.
Julian said one set of plans indicated that runoff water would flow uphill and another had an entrance that would have been dangerous.
"We can't afford to do this anymore," he said.
wilkinson@vindy.com