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Campbell notes some improvements in budget matters
By jeanne starmack
campbell
City council got some good news about its financial situation — the budget crisis has eased a little, with a positive balance in the street fund.
A drop in collected income-tax revenues also has leveled off at about $99,000 less than what the city was expecting for the year so far, city Finance Director Sherman Miles said.
The street fund was showing a deficit of $26,000 in May, due largely to spending on supplies and overtime for bad winter weather.
Miles told council at its Wednesday caucus meeting that as of the end of June, the fund has a positive balance of $1,000.
Helping out were transfers of money from other funds, including the permissive-tax fund and the state highway fund, Miles and Councilman Michael Tsikouris said after the meeting. They said Tsikouris calculated how many miles of state roads are in the city to justify that transfer.
The permissive-tax fund includes money from a $5 license-plate fee assessed by the state. A portion of it can be justified for street- department expenses.
In the general fund, problems remain with overspending in the fire department and the mayor’s office. The mayor’s office is over budget by $2,275, and the fire department is overspent by $10,700.
The problem in the mayor’s office happened because Mayor George Krinos began taking city health benefits in March after saying in January that he was giving up the benefits, worth $16,000, to afford a full-time secretary. The secretary is still employed, but council will consider amending the budget appropriations in September to allow $16,000 in the general fund for civil- service tests to be used instead for the secretary’s salary.
During Wednesday’s meeting, council President Bill VanSuch asked Krinos if he intends to lay off a full-time firefighter he recalled in December even though there was no money in the budget to do so.
Krinos said he would not lay off the firefighter, who costs the city about $65,000 a year, which is largely responsible for the department deficit.
Krinos said he wants to help the city’s Insurance Service Offices rating, which plummeted from a 6 to a 10, the worst on a scale of 1 to 10. The ISO is an independent organization that rates communities’ firefighting capabilities, and it requires fire departments to ensure that at least four firefighters respond to a fire.
The ISO rating can have an adverse effect on home- owners’ and businesses’ insurance rates.
Krinos contends that the city cannot lay off the recalled firefighter again because it could not hire auxiliary firefighters, which he wants to do to beef up manpower. Auxiliaries would be paid only when they respond to a fire, and their presence could help the ISO rating.
Miles and Tsikouris said they believe the city could hire auxiliaries even if the firefighter is laid off.
Krinos also said he believes that if the city implements a $100 annual fee for rental units in the city, that money can be used to pay for the firefighter.
Council will discuss implementing the fee at another caucus meeting July 28. The soonest it could introduce legislation would be in September, when it resumes regular meetings after a summer break.