Fiscal woes in Liberty now demand tough love from township trustees

During this season of shar- ing, elected officials may be inclined toward generosity, but in Liberty Township the best gift trustees can give the community is one of fiscal responsibility.

The township, which is in state- designated fiscal caution, was $124,595 in the red as of Dec. 1. And though the two major departments in township government, police and fire, are enjoying positive balances today, the future looks bleak.

POLICE, FIRE DEFICITS

As The Vindicator noted in a story this week, the police department will have $66,868 at month’s end, while the fire department will have a positive fund balance of $77,580.

However, the story also pointed out that according to township Fiscal Officer Steve Shelton’s projections, the police department will operate in the red to the tune of $84,401 by the end of January, and $227,865 a month later.

The fire department will end the month of February with a deficit of $219,628, the fiscal officer said during a special meeting Monday of the township board of trustees.

“We have to do things to stop the bleeding,” Shelton said.

It’s clear that township government has a spending problem, as the fiscal officer noted, and that there’s just one realistic way to address it: Make deep cuts in the budget.

How deep? Shelton has suggested slashing $22,000 a month from the police and fire departments.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that there is push back to what he is suggesting. There are those in township government who contend that the fiscal crisis is not solely the result of spending, but rather tax revenue not collected by the county commissioners from individuals in the township who should be paying taxes.

Once that money comes in, the problem will be somewhat alleviated, they assume.

But Shelton is sticking to his guns – and with good reason: Township government cannot operate on the basis of if-come.

“That’s out of our control,” he said of the tax revenue that has not been collected by the county. “What we have is what we have … We can’t operate from a fantasy.”

To demonstrate just how serious he is about the township eliminating the red ink in the general fund and the anticipated deficits in the police and fire department budgets, Shelton says he will refuse to certify the expenditure of $13,000 for a police cruiser.

Two trustees support the purchase because doing so before Jan. 1 would save Liberty about $2,500, which Chief Richard Tisone said adds some urgency to the consideration.

The seeming standoff has prompted a request to Law Director Mark Finamore to determine whether the fiscal officer has the legal authority to block such a purchase.

COMMON QUANDARY

In the end, however, the disagreement over the cruiser is just background music.

The underlying issue is one that many local governments are confronting: How to eliminate budget deficits without undermining basic public services.

As we’ve argued in this space for years, when the public sector is confronted with the reality that expenses outweigh the revenue coming in, there’s no avoiding the fact that the payroll must be cut.

The public sector is labor intensive because it provides services; it does not manufacture a product that generates revenue. Thus, most of the sector’s operating budget is dedicated to salaries and benefits.

No one wants to talk about layoffs or not filling vacancies, least of all elected officials, but not doing so merely postpones the inevitable.

To be sure, there is always the option of going to the voters for a tax increase, but a lag exists between the time voters give their approval and the additional revenue starts coming in.

It should be noted that no one in Liberty Township is talking about a tax increase, which means the budget crisis must be addressed by across-the-board cuts in spending.