A new draft of the Emporia city budget would add no new property taxes in 2008, but the price of that — including a $500 fee for fire service — was more than some commissioners were ready to swallow.
City Manager Matt Zimmerman presented the proposal Friday, which would forgo $229,000 in additional property tax revenue and restore or partially restore some expenses, such as the taxi coupon program and the Emporia Municipal Band. To get back some of that money, the draft budget proposed a fire-service fee, charged after firefighters respond to a structure fire.
That immediately ran into heated opposition from Mayor Julie Johnson.
“There are services you just provide and fire is a major one,” she said. “You can take ‘fee for service’ too far and for me, a fee for fire is too far.”
“You pay taxes for something,” City Commissioner Jim Kessler agreed.
Zimmerman said that in many places in Illinois, an excusable fee is levied for fire service, where the city only collects if the insurance pays the fee. On that basis, City Commissioner Bobbie Agler said, he might not have a problem with it. However, he wanted more time to study the draft as a whole.
Based on the number of structure fire calls in 2006, the fee could raise $34,500 if implemented.
Commissioner Jeff Longbine was the lone commissioner to say that a fire fee, while not desirable, could be better than the alternative.
“My only concern is that any revenue increase we don’t include or any capital improvement we bring back is a tax increase,” Longbine said. “But one thing I have been told and told was not to increase the property tax. I may not like this, but I like it a lot better than a mill.”
Commissioners have set a goal to raise property taxes by no more than four mills. That has resulted in weeks of financial struggling, particularly to bring the general fund into balance without depleting the city’s reserves.
In addition to the fee, the new draft budget suggests billing the industrial sales tax fund for staff time spent on economic development. Zimmerman said the Regional Development Association of East Central Kansas had no problem with that, so long as the city kept close track of its hours next year. This first time, the city would bill the fund $63,847.
In addition, $54,000 of “bed tax” money would be reclaimed from the Convention and Visitors Bureau instead of $64,000. The last $10,000 was held back to help pay for an image campaign.
The new budget also included several cuts, including:
F Elimination of a proposed fire training officer at a savings of $62,363. That should have been included in the last round of cuts, Zimmerman said, but was overlooked.
F Removing $38,010 from the wage pool for new positions that have been eliminated. The pool is to cover the results of a salary study by the city, in case the study calls for pay or benefits to rise.
F Not repairing or replacing sidewalks except for Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, a $75,000 cut.
F Eliminating a police officer position and a maintenance worker position that are currently vacant, for a savings of about $69,000. That would put city staffing back to where it was in 2004.
F Taking out additional city funding for health insurance and reducing payments into the worker’s compensation fund, for a savings of around $110,000. Zimmerman warned that both funds are already below recommended levels and this cut also ran into objections from several commissioners.
Some expenses did manage to find their way back in the budget, such as:
F Reducing the municipal band to half funding instead of cutting it altogether. That reduces the city’s savings to $7,500.
F Changing the taxi coupon program so that customers pay $3 and the city pays $1 on each fare, instead of the current 50-50 split. That cuts the city’s costs in half, to $23,250.
F Replacing a pair of lawn mowers for the civic auditorium, at a cost of $9,000.
F Slightly increasing the amount set aside for two squad cars to $46,000. It had been $40,000.
F Cut $51,000 from travel and training instead of $137,000.
Selling the airport or the golf course would not be an option, Zimmerman said, since research had found both moves were prohibited by the city’s Federal Aviation Administration grant. The golf course was built next to the airport by permission of the FAA.
Kessler asked if the pool for the wage study could be cut from about $600,000 to $400,000. It could, Zimmerman said, but he couldn’t recommend it.
“If we take out $200,000, I question our ability to fund the results of the study in one year,” said Zimmerman. “The point was to make the city market-competitive.”
“I’ve been working on the assumption that that’s a sacred number for now,” Commissioner Bobbie Agler agreed.
In the long run, Agler said, the answer was likely to be in sales tax. A half-cent increase could raise more than $2.1 million and Emporia’s sales taxes are already among the lowest in the state. The soonest a new sales tax could be charged would be in 2009.
“That leaves a one-year window where we have to scrimp and get by with as little as possible,” Agler said.
The commission’s next meeting will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday. In addition, a public meeting on the budget will be held by the city and county at 7 p.m. Tuesday at First Christian Church, 202 E. 12th Ave.
dhcc66 (anonymous) says...
why not charge a fire fee for those who burn without permits and have to have the fire department come and put the "controlled burn" out when it gets out of control???
second, only re-do Industrial Road once this year...that would be down from the twice yearly reconstruction of that road.
third, if we are going to slurry seal roads, how about doing the ones that really need it on the east or south sides?
last. re-examine things in an old fashioned way. don't go out spending money we don't have on things we don't need.
oh, and ps....how much money would an amnesty program bring into the city court if all who have fines/fees or warrants overdue were given a week to take care of their business without being penalized by spending a city costly weekend in the jail? judging by the number of people who get arrested or ticketed each week, i'll be there are thousands of dollars in uncollected fines
August 11, 2007 at 6:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
CAFEmporia (anonymous) says...
We know that the typical income for a citizen of Emporia is among the lowest in the state. If someone with very low income suffers a large fire loss, they are going to have huge financial problems already. Why, then, should the city deviate from long (and good) tradition for the sole purpose of damaging them even more. Using government this way is frankly mean. Raising taxes to cover such expenses makes much more sense because it spreads the loss throughout the community, which is only proper.
August 12, 2007 at 4:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ksfarmer (anonymous) says...
I read as the fee is only collected from the insurance companies, if the owner has any, .... If not, it's excusable.
August 12, 2007 at 5:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dhcc66 (anonymous) says...
thats the way i got it too farmer....hey, as a farmer, how do you feel about the farm and land owners paying a fee if their controlled burn gets away from them...maybe say on a day when they aren't supposed to be burning?? the farmer would have to pay for fire response? or would that keep landowners from calling when things get bad?
i too think that taxes are the way to go, but for those who abuse the services, why not make them pay a fine. might lighten the load on fire calls if they knew they would get in trouble for burning at the wrong time
August 12, 2007 at 9:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
justthinkin (anonymous) says...
I'm just thinkin that the City should raise the property tax - take a bite out of the problem & try to get their feet under them as quickly as possible. seems like the City employees are gettin the double whammy --- high costs, rate increases, and little or no raises to help them make the increases --
the analogy of over-using the credit card in the past is perfect, and I think most people can identify with the problem. I'm just glad Mr. Zimmerman is willing to try to curb the credit and live on the paycheck presented. He deserves credit for that.
a question to Mr. Agler -- it's been reported that an increased sales tax couldn't even start until some time in '08 - with no income until '09 - so, how is that really the solution? and, what's the guarantee it will be approved by the voters. then, here we are, another year down the road and no better off - things just getting worse and the price tag getting higher.
so, if anyone can help me understand why putting off the problem is going to make things better, I'm willing to listen.
August 13, 2007 at 8:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dhcc66 (anonymous) says...
hey kstrebuchet, the 600,000 is for 'funding' the wage study as i read it. i was a little confused too until i read it a few times. from what i understand, the wage study is going to be done for something like 20,000 and it's done by an outside source because that makes it unbiased. at least that is what i got from going to the last open budget meeting.
the 20,000 is paid to the outside source, the 600,000 is for the outside possibility of what the city would need to adjust salaries/hourly wages to bring them up to standard with averages from cities our size in kansas and other surrounding states. that goes from the upper management down to the hourly employees i think. from what zimmerman said, most of the problem with hiring and retaining employees has been the wage/benefit package the city has.
what was also said, dont' think it was by zimmerman tho, is that Commons and the past city commissions spent the city into the ground and ignored the city employees for most of 7 yrs. something about putting everything on bond instead of spending within their limits is what was in the paper the other night.
that being said, maybe it's possible they may find that some of the city employees are adequately paid and they may be able to fold some of the cash back into the budget
hopefully things will turn out ok and nobody has to bite the budget bullet including the citizens
August 13, 2007 at 11:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dhcc66 (anonymous) says...
hey just thinkin, the tax has to be put on the ballot. citizens get to vote on it, and it has to passed into the budget. then, they have to collect it and total it for the next year's budget, which in this case is 2009. the shortfall for this budget they are talking about is 2008, so it's only til the next budget year that they couldn't use what is gained.
anybody with any questions...i really suggest you go to the last open budget meeting. the time and place were posted by the paper. they did a good job explaining it at the one i went to, hence the stuff i explained to you.
the other thing they said is that our sales taxes are among the lowest in the state. raising it 1 percent, although it may not seem like a lot, will generate a lot of income especially when it's spread across everybody equally when they buy things. it also helps because all those who pass through will pay it as well and not leave it just on the shoulders of the property owners.
if you want to know how many pass through from other towns, just go to wal mart on a saturday afternoon and count the out of county or out of state tags...they will be pitching in too
August 13, 2007 at 11:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mythoughts (anonymous) says...
$9,000 for two lawn mowers for the Auditorium? What do they have there, 25 sq. ft. of grass? Get a push mower from True Value - I do two lots with my $80 mower and have had no maintenance costs in 6 years, outside of fuel. $9,000?!?
August 14, 2007 at 8:05 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )