Lordstown budget reflects cuts at GM
By Ed Runyan
Controversy arose over a proposal to buy a Ford, rather than a GM truck.
LORDSTOWN — With the future of General Motors Lordstown uncertain, village council has approved a 2009 budget that gives officials the flexibility to eliminate $1 million or more in capital improvement spending, if necessary.
Officials say the layoff of about 2,800 people from the production and fabrication facilities announced in recent months could cost the village $1 million or more in income tax in 2009. They responded to the layoffs by putting most of the village’s 35 full-time and 60 part-time employees on a 2009 wage freeze and scaling back employee health care.
Beyond those savings, the area of greatest flexibility in 2009 spending is in capital improvements, Mayor Michael Chaffee said Monday.
The village usually allocates up to $2 million early in the year to capital improvements, such as vehicle or equipment purchases, playground equipment or road paving.
This year, capital improvement purchases will be approved throughout the year and the money allocated to those projects as they come up, Chaffee said.
That way, if income tax revenues remain low throughout the year, the village can keep capital projects to a minimum, Chaffee said.
One example of this might be to use police vehicles longer than in the past, Chaffee said.
“If conditions greatly improve, we’ll spend more. But if they don’t, we won’t spend it,” the mayor said.
Chaffee said he hopes residents won’t notice any changes in service.
“We’re trying to provide all the same service we provided in the past, possibly some scaled back,” he said.
One area that might be scaled back is summer help in departments such as recreation and roads and possibly fewer summer concerts.
It’s important to have capital-improvements money available to use, he said, in case federal stimulus money becomes available and it requires a matching amount from the village.
The village estimates that about 75 percent to 80 percent of its approximately $4.5 million in income tax collections come from the Lordstown General Motors plants and related industries.
In other business, council gave first reading to an ordinance approving the purchase of a Ford F-350 truck for use in the water department.
Before the vote, Lordstown resident John McCarthy said he understood the desire to save $6,000, “but we’re going to have a real problem if we’re parading around town in a Ford vehicle. Be ready for some criticism.”
McCarthy said he thinks it would make a GM employee “irate” to see a Ford being used in Lordstown, where General Motors cars are made.
McCarthy said he doesn’t even work for GM, and he gets angry when he drives through cities such as Niles and Warren and sees Fords being used by government employees.
Bruce Platt, Lordstown utilities superintendent, said the state purchasing program provided a Ford from 32 Ford Mercury of Batavia, Ohio, for $18,113.
He checked with local General Motors dealers, and their best price was $24,500 for a similar vehicle, he said, adding that there are state-mandated bidding procedures that must be followed to purchase such a vehicle.
Dave Harrison, Lordstown road superintendent, said it’s not legal to buy a General Motors vehicle if it is not an equivalent product at an equivalent price. He noted that the village does have a couple Ford ambulances and a couple Ford trucks already.
Village officials said they would talk about the issue with the management at the Lordstown production plant and see whether they could do anything to get a GM vehicle at a price comparable to the Ford.
runyan@vindy.com