Hubbard officials wrestle with 2012 budget

March 5, 2012 at 12:01a.m.

By robert Guttersohn

Hubbard

City officials are wrestling with the 2012 general-fund budget, trying to eliminate a $135,000 deficit by a state-mandated March 31 deadline.

At its Feb. 21 meeting, the city council voted to divert about $80,000 from capital-improvement projects to the general fund, cutting the deficit to about $55,000. Officials hope to wipe that out by cutting the park and recreation budget and funding the police at near last year’s level, but the exact figures aren’t finalized.

With the city planning to again leave no money for parks and recreation, that department is forced to operate on its reserve funding.

City auditor Mike Villano said it has only $8,500 left in its reserve fund.

“That’s going to be an interesting issue to work through this year,” Villano said.

The police department’s budget last year was $1.6 million, said Police Chief James Taafe.

He oversees 10 full-time officers, four part-time officers, four dispatchers and two part-time dispatchers.

In 2011, his department accrued $111,000 in overtime because it did not have the manpower to fill the two-officer-per-shift requirement without officers working overtime.

Right now, he is four full-timers short of the city authorized level of 14 and stretched thin.

“The amount of overtime speaks for itself,” Taafe said.

Mayor John Darko said he hopes licensing fees the city council is in the middle of imposing will increase revenue to the city.

But city officials say the long-term key to a balanced budget is dealing with its debt.

The city paid for several new improvement projects in 2004 and 2005 by issuing a 10-year bond for which it still pays $525,000 a year. Altogether, it still owes $1.6 million on the bond.

Villano said by restructuring the bond at today’s much lower interest rates and extending it for an additional three years, he hopes to reduce the payments $120,000 a year.

The city hopes the move will allow it to once again fund parks and recreation and make capital improvements.

“Hopefully, we are on the road to a balanced budget,” Darko said.