Williams downplays city budget ‘presumptions’

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

City officials are counting on an improved economy to balance its $80 million general fund this year.

That includes:

Saving about $500,000 through employee attrition.

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Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams

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Youngstown finance director David Bozanich

Increasing its tax-revenue projection by $1 million.

If needed, selling and leasing city assets to raise up to $1,375,000.

“Every budget is based on a set of presumptions,” Mayor Jay Williams said Wednesday after city council OK’d the 2010 budget.

The $80 million general fund is a majority of the city’s overall $135 million budget

“That’s what a budget is — it’s a set of presumptions,” Williams said. “This budget was not based on any more presumptions than any other budget in the past five years.”

Council and the administration plan to closely monitor the budget and make a decision in June or July if it needs to sell or lease any assets to keep the city out of debt.

City officials have spent recent weeks looking for ways to close a projected $2 million between anticipated revenue and expenditures in the 2010 general fund.

The city’s administration came up with proposals to raise about $3 million. But they said they don’t anticipate the plan to be fully implemented.

On average in the past five years, Williams said about five to 10 city employees retire or resign.

But neither the mayor nor Finance Director David Bozanich could say Wednesday how many people left the city payroll last year.

“It’s just a projected average,” Williams said. “We might get to the end of the year and 20 people have left, or we might get to the end of the year and two people have left.”

If tax revenue isn’t on pace to meet the updated projected figure of $42.8 million and not enough employees retire or resign by midyear, the city will consider selling and/or leasing its assets.

One possibility is the AT&T service and maintenance center off Salt Springs Road near Meridian Road, Bozanich said.

AT&T will pay $4.5 million in rent to the city over 10 years [the contract started in June 2008] under a five-year lease with a five-year option.

A lump-sum payment could be negotiated to give Youngstown money up-front and save AT&T money over the length of the contract.

There are also “various undeveloped brownfield properties companies are looking to buy” from the city, Bozanich said.

“We have four or five different options,” he said. “We’ve done this in the past few years. I don’t know yet how many we’ll do.”

The 2010 budget won’t come without some impact on city services.

Its two public pools aren’t likely to open this summer, and the city is looking for an agency to run its summer recreation program.

The public golf course remains closed while the city works a deal to re-open it, probably in the middle of the month.

Safety services won’t be affected by this budget, Williams and Bozanich said, even though about a dozen ranking officers have left the police department during the past two years through buyouts.

Another dozen officers are expected to retire through a state program early next year.

None are expected to be replaced, but Williams said the number of officers on patrol won’t be affected by the reductions.

The city’s finance department had estimated $41.8 million in tax collections this year, the same amount it collected last year. That is $6.1 million less than it had expected last year.

During the first two months of the year, tax revenue is in line with what was originally projected, Bozanich said.

But in conversations with major companies in Youngstown, Williams and Bozanich said business is expected to pick up. That led to a projected increase in tax collection by $1 million.

The city receives tax money from a 2.75 percent income tax imposed on those who work and/or live in the city and a 2.75 percent profit tax paid by companies.

If the city’s revenue plans don’t raise enough money, Williams and Bozanich said employees would be laid off.

But that’s in a worse-case scenario, they said.

IMPACT

The 2010 budget adopted by Youngstown City Council means some services will be eliminated and others altered. Here are some of the changes:

The budget eliminates funding for various park and recreation programs and facilities. Borts Pool on the city’s West Side, closed since summer 2008, won’t reopen. Also, it is unlikely the North Side Pool, which the city built less than three years ago, will open this summer.

The city-owned Henry Stambaugh Golf Course on the North Side was supposed to open March 1. It remains closed because money to run it was removed from the budget. The city is finalizing a contract with David Boos, the golf pro there, to run it. The course should open in mid-April, Mayor Jay Williams said.

The city’s summer recreation program for children isn’t funded. The city is looking for an agency to run the program.

When employees retire or resign, only those whose positions are mandated to be filled by state or federal law or deemed “essential” by city officials will be replaced.

The city isn’t planning to lay off any workers as long as its revenues meet its expenses. “If the bottom falls out, we’ll have layoffs,” said Finance Director David Bozanich. Bozanich expects the city to maintain its services, except those in park and recreation.

The city’s three municipal court judges wanted $500,000 to increase security at the court. Despite concerns about court safety, the judges dropped the request.

Source: Youngstown 2010 budget, Finance Director David Bozanich, Mayor Jay Williams, Vindicator files