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Building fees down, budget may be cut |
By Laurent
Bonczijk,
Newberg Graphic reporter
E-mail Laurent at
lbonczijk@eaglenewspapers.com
|
The Newberg budget
committee Tuesday may cut $205,607 from the general fund toward
approval of a more than $72.64 million budget. The sometimes heated
discussions lasted more than two hours before an audience of 18
citizens.
Those in the audience were there because their departments would be
affected by the cuts. Included were Fire Chief Al Blodgett and eight
firefighters, Police Chief Brian Casey, police Lt. Chris Bolek, head
librarian Leah Griffith, as well as several other department heads.
Seventy-eight percent of the general fund budget is dedicated to
fund public safety services such as police and fire. This percentage
has been increasing over the years because income from property
taxes hasn’t kept pace with “what it costs to operate public
safety,” said Jim Bennett, Newberg city manager.
Money for the general fund comes primarily from property taxes,
other taxes levied by the city, and licenses and fees. There was a
shortfall in this year’s general fund, Bennett said, because
revenues from application fees for new developments were $500,000 to
$600,000 less than expected. “Budget forecasting is a little bit
like forecasting the weather,” he said to explain the difficulty of
the process.
Although Mayor Bob Andrews voted to approve the budget, he voted
against the proposed cuts. “I think there are other ways it could
have been done,” he said. He said he is concerned that “some of the
cuts are going to make Newberg isolated,” but preferred to reserve
his argument for the June 18 Newberg City Council meeting. The
council can ratify the budget based on the committee’s
recommendation, or find reductions of their own.
Among the proposed cuts were the city’s $12,987 membership in the
League of Oregon Cities, a statewide lobbying group for cities, and
$830 in dues paid to the Oregon Mayor’s Association.
In the light of the number of public employees present, budget
committee member Lon Wall addressed the audience early saying that
the committee is not “a bunch of boobs trying to throw a monkey
wrench in at the last minute,” but were “interested in stable
long-term financing for the city.”
Wall also pointed out that councilor Robert Soppe had asked that
those budget issues be considered earlier in the year so as to avoid
a last-minute crush, but that it hadn’t happened. He thought that
the “citizens should be aware of what situation the city is in,” but
“maybe I am Alice in Wonderland.”
Soppe, who voted against the budget, said that it still didn’t
resolve long terms problems with city finances. He said that the
budget was balanced, as is required by law, but “if you look at the
working capital it’s kind of scary. It concerns me when I see the
working capital decreasing every year.” Working capital is the money
left over from the past year. Soppe said the city needs to either
“increase revenues or decrease expenses.”
The fire department will have to cut $6,800, which represents the
cost of janitorial services for its two stations. Blodgett testified
to the committee that it wouldn’t hamper his operation much because
the firefighters would assume responsibility for maintaining the
stations.
The police department must cut $1,000 in detective overtime, $500
for detective travel and training, $500 for patrol officers travel
and training, $500 for community policing, and another $1,000 for
capital replacement.
Chief Casey said that while travel and training will be directly
affected by the cuts, it is hard to predict whether the detectives
overtime pay cut will have any impact. He added that it would depend
on the number and complexity of cases the detectives must
investigate in the next fiscal year.
Councilor Roger Currier was unhappy that city staff hadn’t
withdrawn a proposed promotion for the deputy city recorder to
become city recorder. The move would have saved the city more than
$11,000 in pay and benefits. He argued that “government as a whole
does not know how to live within a reasonable budget.” |
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From
June 9, 2007, Newberg Graphic
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