Warren officials mull ways to reduce costs

By Ed Runyan

The city’s finance committee discussed increasing the city’s vehicle registration tax by $5.

WARREN — The city administration had a group meeting with all six of its unions Tuesday to discuss possible ways to reduce labor costs, to cut $1.6 million from the city’s 2009 budget without laying off any additional employees.

Another meeting is set for Thursday.

Doug Franklin, safety-service director, said requiring city employees to pay a percentage of their health care is one of the ways the city hopes to accomplish that goal, but there are other savings being discussed.

Employees now have no deduction for their contribution to health care, one of the few government entities in the Mahoning Valley that doesn’t require an employee contribution.

Ed Russ, president of Local 74 of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees union, which represents most of the nonpolice and fire employees in the city, said there is general agreement that the most recent cuts should be spread evenly across all city departments.

“Through the years, different groups have gotten better raises than others,” Russ said. “We want to come up with a way to share the burden without layoffs.”

Russ said some city unions have taken lower pay increases in recent years to try to keep their health-care coverage intact.

In recent weeks, union and management workers in the Warren Fire Department have said the city was proposing as many as 17 additional layoffs in the fire department.

Fire Chief Ken Nussle has said that the fire department is now expected to cut the city’s personnel costs by about $400,000.

The city administration laid off 20 police officers, 11 firefighters and eight other city workers effective Jan. 1 to shave $1.2 million from the 2009 budget, but discovered a few months later that another $1.6 million in cuts would be needed by the end of 2009 to balance the budget.

The additional cuts are necessary because additional job losses in the private sector came about at the end of 2008 and into early 2009 at places like the Severstal steel mill. Job losses reduce the city’s income tax collections.

The city also learned that its health-insurance bill will rise by $1 million in 2009 — a 21.5 percent increase over 2008.

Meanwhile, the city’s finance committee met Tuesday to discuss legislation expected to receive discussion at today’s council meeting that would raise the city’s current $10-per-year vehicle license tax to $15.

The legislation is sponsored by Councilmen Andy Barkley and James “Doc” Pugh.

One of the reasons the legislation is being proposed is that Trumbull County Engineer David DeChristofaro has asked the county commissioners to impose up to $15 in vehicle license taxes or put the measure on the ballot, Pugh said.

If the county had a $15 license tax and the city had only $10, the additional $5 for Warren residents would go to the county, Pugh said.

Barkley said the $5, which would raise about $160,000 to $170,000 per year, would bring in four times that much in matching state and federal grant money.

runyan@vindy.com