Mayor, Council squabble over city budget

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Mayor Don Farmer and members of Van Wert City Council butted heads on details of a temporary budget being offered by the administration during a Finance Committee meeting held Wednesday evening.

Finance Committee Chair Joi Mergy was unhappy with the fact that the proposed General Fund budget was approximately $21,000 over the $6.2 million cap set by Council a couple of months ago.

Other Council members and City Auditor Martha Balyeat also seek a balanced budget that works to eventually end the “rob Peter to pay Paul” scenario begun several years ago.

The scenario involves taking funds from the 0.5 percent street income tax and .22 safety capital tax and using them, not for their intended purpose, but to pay salaries and benefits.

Council has already mandated that Mayor Farmer’s administration reduce by 5 percent the amount of money taken from the 0.5 percent street improvement tax fund in 2014 for administrative salaries. The goal is to eventually use all of the money in the fund for street improvements, its original purpose.

In addition, Council has asked the administration to not use .22-percent safety capital income tax revenues for salaries and benefits in 2014, since staffing levels in the police and fire departments are expected to be at minimum levels next year.

According to language in the legislation approved by voters related to the .22 safety capital income tax, money from the safety capital fund can be used for salaries and benefits only if staffing levels are not at previously determined minimum levels and/or there are insufficient revenues to balance the General Fund budget.

Balyeat said the 2014 tax budget shows sufficient revenues are available to meet the budget, but also questioned whether that was true. “I don’t think your revenues are going to support expenses,” she noted.

One big issue raised during the discussion was the upcoming contract talks with city bargaining units, and salary talks planned with employees who are not part of a bargaining unit.

The administration, which is projecting a carryover of $1.3 million at the end of 2014, has not earmarked any funds for salary or benefit increases for city employees. Mayor Farmer stated earlier that the reason for that is to avoid the “automatic” salary increases of the past. Both the mayor and Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming have said they would like to avoid budgeting a specific percentage for wage and benefit increases, since that figure is then used by bargaining units is negotiations.

However, as Council President Gary Corcoran pointed out, the failure to budget anything for wage and benefit increases essentially means the administration has no money for that purpose.

“You have no bargaining position,” Corcoran told the administration.

For his part, Mayor Farmer said he is “comfortable” with the budget figures provided to Council. “We’ve been conservative,” he noted.

The disagreement with City Council goes further, though, than whether there is sufficient money in the 2014 General Fund budget to pay expenses. While the administration has stated the past few years that the city is going through a “flat economic” time and needs to use 0.5 and .22 funds to balance the budget until revenues return to pre-2008 levels, Balyeat and some Council members think it’s time for the city to “live within its means” – budget only using General Fund revenues.

“The question is what staffing level can we afford? … not what we want .. what we can afford,” the city auditor said, adding, “What’s your plan to decrease reliance on the 0.5 and .22 taxes?”

Councilman At-Large Stan Agler went even further. “The General Fund, as we know it, is really fictitious,” he said, noting that, since General Fund revenues are currrently insufficient to pay expenses, one-time revenues and money from other funds must be used to make up the difference.

Corcoran said Council, which controls appropriations, could reject any budget proposal that doesn’t meet standards set by Council.

Mergy has scheduled another budget discussion for next Monday, with a line-by-line budget review planned during that meeting.

Also Wednesday, Fleming said the West Main Street project was essentially completed, with a ribboncutting ceremony set for Friday afternoon to officially reopen the street. He also noted that the new concession stand at Smiley Park was progressing, with framing completed and roofing slated to start today. A new traffic light at Fox Road and Shannon Street should also be completed yet this month, he noted.

Council also approved legislation authorizing a number of “housekeeping” fund transfers and supplemental appropriations needed as this fiscal year winds down, and also approved the downtown revitalization and marketing plan submitted by Main Street Van Wert Program Manager Adam Ries.