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Council discusses worker placement to balance budget
A member suggested moving $65,000 from one office to another that generates revenue.
WARREN — Members of city council are still discussing the movement of employees between departments and overall layoffs in an effort to balance the 2009 budget.
The discussion will continue at a finance committee meeting Wednesday afternoon. Council has also agreed to have a special meeting Wednesday to address the budget after the finance committee meeting.
Council is considering the layoff of 31 police officers and firefighters starting Jan. 1 to balance the city’s 2009 budget. An additional eight employees in other departments would lose their jobs Jan. 1, and one would be gone May 1.
During a Monday finance committee meeting, Councilwoman Susan Hartman, D-7th, questioned how more safety forces could be spared in the upcoming round of job cuts. She said funds could be taken from operations, reducing that department to levels seen in the past, and shifted to safety forces.
Hartman at one point asked Mayor Michael O’Brien when the city would realistically be able to look at bringing employees in police and fire back with the cuts realized in the proposed budget. O’Brien said he could not answer that question.
Councilman Dan Crouse, D-at large, said the focus has to be toward forming a plan where the city is not bringing people back from layoff — only to lay those people off again.
Crouse said there are cost concerns that have not been addressed such as an increase from $2.3 million for energy use in 2007 to more than $3 million for energy use in 2008.
“That is a $1 million swing that no one has had a discussion about,” he said. “The reality is that if we get a dollar in the door and don’t hold onto it, we could be in serious trouble.”
The bulk of the discussion Monday centered on a suggestion from Councilwoman Helen Rucker, D-at large, to move $65,000 from the auditor’s office to the income tax office in the proposed budget. She said the move would mean a job lost in the auditor’s office but a job saved in the tax department where revenue can be generated.
“The finance department and human resources have not felt the brunt of this. I don’t understand why we cannot take a person from finances and put that person in the income tax department,” she said. “Even with this the income tax department will lose, but at least they will have the ability to bring in some money.”
Rucker said the auditor’s office, under the current plan, will not see any job cuts. The income tax department now has six employees but will lose three under the proposed budget.
Rucker said saving one employee in the income tax department will mean more investigations and more revenue.
Council will decide on the request Wednesday.
During the meeting Police Chief John Mandopoulos offered to council some suggestions on generating revenue. Those suggestions include converting some police vehicles to natural gas use, saving $90,000 by doing in-house auto repairs, annually billing for false-alarm calls, and using traffic-enforcement cameras to generate fines for speeding.
“These are things we need to discuss and I am willing to move on right now,” he said.
jgoodwin@vindy.com