Seeking funds, Salem officials come up short

By D.a. Wilkinson

Council members said it’s the administration’s job to deal with the city’s finances.

SALEM — Administration officials and council members were unable Tuesday to find more revenue or common ground.

Mayor Jerry Wolford had called the meeting to ask council for “some direction we want the city to go.”

But council members said it was up to the administration to run the city on a daily basis.

“We’re not here doing the entire work of the city,” Councilman Dennis Groves told the mayor, adding, “That is kind of what the administration is supposed to do.”

Wolford said officials realize their options are to try again at the ballot box for a tax increase or make cuts.

“We all take it seriously. We want to get the best plan for the city,” he added.

“We could give input on possible income in executive session, or we can try to work it out as best we can,” he said.

The city asked voters last November to approve a 0.5-percent income-tax increase, which voters vetoed by 71 percent. The city also collects a 1-percent income tax.

City Auditor James Armeni said the problem is that the city’s general fund this year has $5.2 million in requests from department heads, but only $4.6 million in revenue.

Armeni said the administration could “talk to the bargaining units to see where we could bring some balance. I think that needs to be done.”

Armeni said he approves some purchase requests by departments, questions and approves others, and rejects some.

Councilman David Nestic, who was running the meeting, said, “We don’t have many options when it comes to raising revenue.”

K. Bret Apple, chairman of council’s finance committee, said council is the funding source for city operations.

Because of the continuing bad economy, Nestic said, mounting a campaign for a new levy for the November ballot would be “a waste of hard effort and time.”

City officials had considered taking interest from funds collected by the city’s utilities commission, which handles the city’s water and sewer systems. But that brought in only $80,000 in 12 years, they said.

wilkinson@vindy.com