2012 budget chats: City Manager Matt Zimmerman
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Friday, August 12, 2011
Q Where are we at the budget process?
A Since 2007 the City has reviewed the budget in three steps. The first is to review all budget requests from outside agencies and City departments. The second is for the City Manager and staff to propose a budget, including changes to revenues, expenses and cash reserves, to meet the City Commission’s goals, which are set at the end of phase 1. The Commission reviews the second draft and makes changes as they best determined. The third step is to review the amended budget and make any last changes before adoption. The City is currently in the middle of the third step.
Q What are some of the significant changes proposed for next year’s budget?
A I believe the single biggest change is the increase in debt payments. The City’s general debt payments paid by property taxes will be increasing a little over $400,000 in 2012. Combined with an almost 1 percent decrease in assessed valuation, the General Fund will be seeing a $462,000 decrease in revenue from property taxes. Fortunately the City’s debt payments starts to decline after 2012 (except for 2015), and really decrease starting in 2016. Another change is the decrease in administrative transfers from the Utility and Special Street Funds. The amount going into the General Fund are $73,500 lower in 2012. I think it is important to note that this is a revenue issue, not an expense issue. Revenues are budgeted to be $835,000 less while expenses are budgeted to be $275,000 less. Please check out the City s budget at www.emporia-kansas.gov. You will see that almost all expenses are the same or lower in 2012 than 2011.
Q Is it possible to truly consider adopting a balanced budget without significant revenue enhancements or cuts of city programs or departments?
A I don’t believe so. Please remember that the City Commission’s goal is to maintain 15 percent reserves in the General Fund and 20 percent reserves in the Water, Sewer and Solid Waste Funds. The City is projecting to have 17 percent reserves at the end of 2011, so the Commission could adopt a budget with a deficit and still be at the 15 percent reserve level. However, to eliminate the current draft deficit of almost $1.1 million or even to get to 15 percent reserves will require significant revenue increases and/or program cuts.
Q Looking at the third draft, it seems everyone took a hit except the RDA and CVB. The RDA budget includes pay increases and yet you are recommending no merit pay for city employees who make much less than RDA employees. Please explain?
A The City receives budget requests from numerous agencies in the City. Part of the allocation request is that each agency must submit a copy of their entire budget and show where the City’s money will be spent. The City can then allocate all, some or none of the request. The Board of each agency then determines how the entire budget, including the City’s allocation, will be spent. While the City can place certain restrictions on how its money may be used, the City has historically not micromanaged the outside agency by designating how specifically the allocation will be spent, as long as the agency can prove it meets any restrictions set forth by State law or the referendum. For example, the half-cent sales tax that was renewed in 2010 for economic development can only be used to fund economic development efforts, which since the tax’s inception in 1994 has been the RDA.
Q It seems to me that there are essential organizations, services, and departments that are under funded and/or at risk for budget cuts by the city, while other inefficient groups are over-funded. How do you base funding and salaries to an organization like the RDA, when they are not an effective organization, have brought little industry to town, and are missing out on opportunities with their narrow vision? How long do we have to wait for the RDA to do their job while money is being wasted? Why do they deserve more money and other services do not? How does the city hold the RDA accountable for their budget allocation?
A I think that the City has done a good job of maintaining services and programs while decreasing staff. However there are limitations on where certain monies can be spent. In the case of the RDA, the half-cent sales tax that was renewed may only be used for Economic Development. Once the allocation is given to an outside agency, like the RDA, that board implements the budget and oversees the management of the staff. Regarding the RDA’s efforts they have had a lot of success in their 16 years of existence. Please refer to their website www.emporiarda.org or past online chats for information, but they have brought in hundreds of millions of dollars in economic development. Even though we don’t see tangible results every year, it is important to keep our economic development efforts going, because when the economy turns around we will be better able to take advantage of new growth by industries and retailers.
Q Do you think there is any waste in the budget that could be cut? With health insurance costs going up is the city covering the cost increase or are they passing it along to the employee? What percent of an employee’s health care cost does the city pay for and how much does the employee pay for?
A I really don’t believe that there is any “waste” in the budget. Please remember that one person’s waste is another person’s critical program. Local governments have been squeezing efficiencies for years and there is really not much left in many budgets. Health insurance is projected to increase 5 percent in 2012. The City pays 90 percent of the monthly premium for single coverage and 50 percent of the monthly premium for all other coverage. So if health insurance goes up 5 percent, employees will see a 5 percent increase in their personal contribution. I also think that it is worth noting that the City has seen a net increase of only 10 percent in premiums over the past 3 years, and we received a refund in the past two years. A lot of this is due to employees working hard to keep the number of claims down.
Q What kind of feedback would be helpful from the community to move the budget process along?
A Setting a government budget requires a combination of setting revenues, maintaining or changing programs and leaving enough cash reserves in case of an emergency. The City Commission is looking for feedback on what programs should be saved or could be reduced or cut, whether new revenues should be collected (i.e. property taxes) and whether the City should decrease reserves due to the economic slowdown. Please note that the only revenue the City Commission has direct control over is the property tax levy. All other revenues are dependent on outside factors.
Q If you could share a few thoughts about the City’s current financial position what would it be?
A The biggest challenge is determining how to right-size the budget. Over the past few years revenues and expenses have increased. However, overall revenues in the General Fund are budgeted to decline in 2011 and even more so in 2012. During the same time through careful management the City has increased its reserves from $383,000 to $3.1 million. So the biggest challenge is deciding whether to cut expenses and eliminate programs, increase revenues and/or use reserves. The other challenge is that, at least for the past 4 years, revenues have been higher and expenses lower than budget. That’s how the City has built reserves. So the City wants to be careful not to cut expenses and programs too far, then generate a surplus at the end of the year.
goodoleboy (anonymous) says...
What a total line of BS in regards to the RDA
http://www.emporiarda.org/news.shtml
I referred to your source, half of the posts in there over the last 5 years are layoffs or businesses leaving. Maybe YOU should have looked at it. Get your head out buddy!
August 12, 2011 at 11:46 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
methusla (anonymous) says...
A true " Carpet Bagger " has developed a line of absolutely " non-understandable " double talk, in order to dupe the people into " buying " his particulare line of worthless B.S. and our City Manager is the consumate " Carpet Bagger " .
August 12, 2011 at 2:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
booker5m (anonymous) says...
Same old garbage out of his mouth
August 12, 2011 at 2:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
" Please note that the only revenue the City Commission has direct control over is the property tax levy."
I can feel it in the wind. Fasten your seat belts.
August 12, 2011 at 2:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
inaweoftheblindness (anonymous) says...
BLAH BLAH BLAH Same ole BS coming out of his mouth!
I agree (Create) everybody tighten up your seat belts!
August 12, 2011 at 4:01 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
80% of manufactoring jobs have gone oversea's and are not coming back. In light of this profound fact, perhaps a lot of towns the size of Emporia would like to have our industry.
August 13, 2011 at 6:42 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
While we are complaining, my patriot friends, we are about to lose our country. Please stroll down and view this video-the best hour you will spend today and may God bless you.
http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?p=3844
August 13, 2011 at 1:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
If you think government is corrupt, then view this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSYLdo...
August 13, 2011 at 11:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
A corrupt government.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHWIVe...
August 13, 2011 at 11:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
Last one. Bankers and the hidden agenda.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxO-z0...
August 13, 2011 at 11:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
I am sorry, but I must share this one with you. Please forgive me. I am an old guy and it's hard to go to sleep.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxO-z0...
August 15, 2011 at 1:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
reddog, please give a brief description of what your link says in your own words. I refuse to click on them anymore. if you can't post in your own words on here it's not worth hearing it.
WISE UP MAN !
August 15, 2011 at 7:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
reddog, since I'm the one who showed you how to post links, let me be the one to show you how to post a link properly. Let me demonstrate and you follow, okay? What I have done here is what I had planned to say here anyway, so it's a real thing. Let's use it as a demo as well.
60 Minutes had an interesting segment last night detailing how corporations use lower taxes in other countries to avoid paying their fair share in the U.S. while still conducting business here. We often accuse a lot of these companies of going overseas just so they could use local slave labor. There's more to it than that. Here's a link to last night's eye-opening segment.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/0...
August 15, 2011 at 8:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
And this personal editorial from Warren Buffet which appeared in the New York Times. He claims the U.S. needs to increase the tax on the rich in order to decrease the deficit. Ah ha! He should know.
Here's a teaser: "While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate."
Read the entire op-ed article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opi...
August 15, 2011 at 10 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
methusla (anonymous) says...
I was wondering if anyone else saw those two articles on how the rich are not taxed as they should be and how they have loop hole advantages the rest of us do not have . Thanks for posting those create, as I was just about to .
These two articles confirm what I have been saying for a long time and have been chastized for saying it .
Thank you again, create .
August 15, 2011 at 10:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
methusla (anonymous) says...
Most of the time, even when reddog says things in his own words, it doesn' t make any sense.
August 15, 2011 at 10:19 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )