Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Council again refused to fund the city’s deputy safety director’s position.
SALEM — City council voted to at least temporarily tighten its belt into the start of 2009.
That included rejecting a small rebate to city sewer customers.
Council voted Tuesday night to switch its income tax revenue split from 75 percent for general operations and 25 percent for capital improvements. The new division will be 85 percent for operations and the rest for capital improvements.
Justin Palmer, the chairman of council’s finance committee, said the shift may last only into the early part of 2009 if the national economy rebounds.
The city is mostly funded with a 1 percent income tax but its revenue has dropped recently.
Treasurer James Armeni said the change will help council create a budget for next year. Council can work under a temporary measure through March before it has to approve a final budget.
Donald Weingart, the city’s utilities superintendent, asked that council agree to a one-time drop in sewer rates for Salem customers. Weingart said council’s utilities chairman, Geoffrey Goll, wanted the reduction as a gesture to the customers.
It would have cut $15.33 from a customer’s bill next year. Weingart said some people would appreciate the gesture, while others “will think it’s a joke.”
Council voted to reject the proposal, however.
Palmer said the city should not be cutting revenue while the economy and city finances are tight.
Council gave a second reading to an ordinance that would give pay raises to about 14 nonunion city workers. But it did so only after council Democrats removed the city’s deputy safety director from the ordinance.
The deputy safety director, Greg Oesch, is a Democrat who helped Republican Jerry Wolford get elected mayor in 2007 over Democratic Councilman Clyde Brown.
Democrats have refused to fund the position for this year. The position under city ordinance pays $704 a month.
Wolford, who is recovering from knee replacement surgery, was not at the meeting.
In a written statement, however, he urged council to work with the administration to maintain and even improve its services. He said city officials should start planning now.
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