![\"2009](\"https:\/\/www.aroundfortwayne.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/icons\/t2009_Budget.jpg\")
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Whew! \u00c2\u00a0What an interesting night was had in City Council Chambers last Tuesday! \u00c2\u00a0Unfortunately, the fat lady did not sing and won’t for a few weeks at least due to Election Day (11\/4) and Veteran’s Day (11\/11). The complete audio recording\u00c2\u00a0and documentation have been uploaded to the AFW Audio section. \u00c2\u00a0Load the page and scroll down the right side for a complete listing. \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tuesday’s meeting began at 5:30 pm and ended shortly after 9:30 pm. \u00c2\u00a0I think there were one or two meetings concerning Harrison Square that went longer last year, so it’s been a while since we’ve had one of these marathon sessions. \u00c2\u00a0I am going to cover the hearing in several posts; some of them will deal with specific cuts.<\/p>\n
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The meeting began ominously when it was revealed that the Council had only earlier in the day received the final list of proposed cuts the Administration had agreed to.<\/p>\n
How to make 3% cut<\/strong><\/p>\n Carol Taylor, City Attorney addressed the council as to whether they could make a straight 3% cut across the board to the budget. \u00c2\u00a0The short answer was that the Council would have to go through and vote to reduce every line item by 3%. \u00c2\u00a0This is one of those topics for later.<\/p>\n Group Cut Vote<\/strong><\/p>\n If you would like, you may download a copy of the Proposed Budget Cuts that were voted on. \u00c2\u00a0There were 84 proposed cuts. \u00c2\u00a0Several were withdrawn with little or no discussion. \u00c2\u00a0Right off the bat, the following were grouped into one vote and passed: 7, 9, 14, 15, 30, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 71, 73, 75, 76, 78, 79, 80, 81 and 84. \u00c2\u00a0These were cuts agreed to by the Administration.<\/p>\n Raise for City employees<\/strong><\/p>\n The next cut to be discussed and voted on was the 1.5% raise for city workers. \u00c2\u00a0This was originally a 3% raise, however it was halved when discussions first began. \u00c2\u00a0This means city workers will receive no wage increase for the 2009 calendar year. \u00c2\u00a0While on the face of it, this seems like a good idea. \u00c2\u00a0However, the problem is that if the city indeed faces a possible $9.3 million shortfall in 2010, (closer to $4.5 million if half is indeed cut from the 2009 budget) what happens when it comes time to add a raise for city workers back into the budget? \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n You cannot go for many years without giving the workers something. \u00c2\u00a0I have worked for a few employers that cut raises when times were tough. \u00c2\u00a0If it went too long, morale went down and good employees soon moved on while the not-so-good ones stuck around. \u00c2\u00a0Cutting this today seems a good idea and is a good quarter of what Councilwoman Liz Brown had set as a target for cuts this year. \u00c2\u00a0Problem is, it should not be considered by any means to be a permanent cut and when time comes to reinstate some sort of raise for the then deserving city workers, something else will have to be cut to squeeze it in. \u00c2\u00a0By that time, the budget will already have undergone several rounds of cuts – what will be left?<\/p>\n Mayor’s Area Advocates<\/strong><\/p>\n The proposed cut of two Mayor’s Area Advocate positions was next for discussion. \u00c2\u00a0Concerns and questions were raised over how much work was taken away from the Advocates with the fairly new 3-1-1 “One Call to City Hall”<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0call center – especially with six employees working in this call center. \u00c2\u00a0Councilman Pape supported cutting the positions. \u00c2\u00a0He stated that there seems to be no one, he included the public in this, supporting the increase of governmental revenues – i.e. raising taxes. \u00c2\u00a0He further stated:<\/p>\n One of the most concrete ways you can send a message to the citizens of the City, that we can no longer afford on the current revenue streams that we have, the local government they’ve gotten used to, is to cut a couple of the Area Advocates. \u00c2\u00a0Because they are so important, because they are so used, because they do do necessary important things – maybe in that fashion, we’ll start having the neighborhoods and citizens start to be engaged in the decision about what’s the best size and role and function of government here locally because you don’t hear anything, any concern beyond maybe Public Safety about cutting government. \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n So one of the reasons I proposed this was that it would hurt and it would be felt and we would start to maybe engage the citizenry in the conversation, because right now, the only thing you hear is, we have to cut. \u00c2\u00a0And that’s what I’m hearing, that’s what other council members are hearing, I think that’s what Mayor Henry has heard, so if that’s going to continue to be the thing, that’s going to continue to happen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n He went to add that the Council is going to have to start cutting positions and he would rather do it in areas other than Public Safety. There was discussion about the changing scope of the Area Advocates as well as the Council itself taking on some of the workload. \u00c2\u00a0In the end, the cut failed with 4 yes votes to 5 no’s. \u00c2\u00a0I wouldn’t be surprised to see some movement or exploration of this in the coming year.<\/p>\n Mayor’s PR<\/strong><\/p>\n Cuts #5 and 6. \u00c2\u00a0In the Mayor’s Department, there is a line item of $30,220 for Public Relations. \u00c2\u00a0This is used to provide lunches, dinners, donuts and coffee for various meetings the City hosts, lapel pins and other various items. \u00c2\u00a0It is not only used by the Mayor, but all City departments have access to the funds. \u00c2\u00a0Councilwoman, Karen Goldner proposed cutting $22,000 while Councilman Harper proposed a cut of $20,000. \u00c2\u00a0The Administration agreed to accept a $15,000 cut which would bring it closer to it’s historic level. \u00c2\u00a0The later cut of $20,000 was agreed to in a 7 yes to 2 no’s vote.<\/p>\n Public Information Officer<\/strong><\/p>\n Cut #10. \u00c2\u00a0I already blogged about this cut as proposed by Councilman Harper. \u00c2\u00a0I will add a few additional comments here as I have reviewed the audio file. \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Councilman Harper stated this was not a reflection on any of the PIO’s personally, but that there had been an “inflation in PIO’s”. \u00c2\u00a0He stated he had heard about this inflation quite often from \u00c2\u00a0citizens. \u00c2\u00a0There had been as many as three until Ozzie Mitson was moved to the Legislative & Business Liaison position. \u00c2\u00a0He felt that Department Heads should be treated as the professionals they are and allowed to talk directly to the press about their areas of expertise. \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Councilwoman Goldner stated that she opposed the cut as she feels the area has been understaffed in recent years making it more difficult for citizens to obtain information. \u00c2\u00a0She cited the old practice of citizens having to submit requests through the City’s Law Department. \u00c2\u00a0She further added, “You simply cannot have a proactive community outreach effort without having enough humans to do it.” \u00c2\u00a0The cut passed with 5 yes and 4 no votes. \u00c2\u00a0Read the previous\u00c2\u00a0post here<\/a>.<\/p>\n For other AFW Budget Hearing posts, click here.<\/p>\n Whew! \u00c2\u00a0What an interesting night was had in City Council Chambers last Tuesday! \u00c2\u00a0Unfortunately, the fat lady did not sing and won’t for a few weeks at least due to Election Day (11\/4) and Veteran’s Day (11\/11). The complete audio recording\u00c2\u00a0and documentation have been uploaded to the AFW Audio section. \u00c2\u00a0Load the page and scroll […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[236],"tags":[681,745,91,747,15,130,127,128,748,438,749],"class_list":{"0":"post-1786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-fort-wayne-city-council","7":"tag-2009-city-of-fort-wayne-civil-city-budget","8":"tag-3-1-1-city-of-fort-wayne-call-center","9":"tag-carol-taylor","10":"tag-city-of-fort-wayne-legislative-and-business-liaison","11":"tag-fort-wayne-city-council-2","12":"tag-fort-wayne-city-councilman-mitch-harper","13":"tag-fort-wayne-city-councilwoman-karen-goldner","15":"tag-neighborhood-advocates","16":"tag-ozzie-mitson","17":"tag-public-information-officer"},"yoast_head":"\nRelated Images:<\/h3>
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