08/11/09
Blog Post on Budget Going Viral? -
Categories: Police Department, Fire Department, Taxes & Budget -
Douglas
@ 07:28:57 am
"Nobody's a bad guy in this" — so I am quoted in an article in today's Metro section of the Dallas Morning News. The genesis for the article is a proposal to tap $2 million from the Rate Mitigation Fund and use the money to offset city administraton plans to close that gap by temporarily reducing employee compensation.
While the article does not cover the depth of the proposal and the suggestion to use Rate Mitigation funds, it does refer to my earlier post where I explain that I think it illegal to use the Charter-protected funds for purposes other than those listed in the Charter. It doesn't suffice to artificially create a crisis and then rob the fund as a solution. As I explain, I won't violate the Charter and ignore the will of the voters in 1996 when that protection was first added to the Charter and then amended in 2004 when politicians sought creative ways to tap some of the funds.
I have been reviewing the budget presented to the Council last Tuesday and will post several items that should interest residents, especially taking a look at current debt loads. The DMN article by Ray Leszcynski does an excellent job describing the larger picture that envelopes this year's budget and the constraints we all face. I particularly recommend it for the concise synopsis of "where we're at."
From the Dallas Morning News, August 11:
Garland firefighters make proposal to balance city budget
12:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, August 11, 2009
By RAY LESZCYNSKI / The Dallas Morning News
rleszcynski@dallasnews.com
With a 1.15 percent pay cut on the board for all Garland employees in 2009-10, some of the city's protectors have turned into politicos.
The Garland Fire Fighters Association is circulating a proposal to use Garland Power & Light funds in place of $2 million in temporary pay cuts in the proposed budget.
That budget was presented formally to the City Council by City Manager Bill Dollar last week. It includes a half-cent debt service tax increase, making the tax rate 70.46 cents per $100 valuation. In Dallas County, only Cockrell Hill, Dallas, Lancaster and Rowlett have higher rates.
"GP&L is a utility revenue source for the city of Garland and the third-largest revenue source for the general fund," said Eric Brown, the fire association's vice president. "The top two – property values and sales taxes – are getting hammered. But we've got a stable third source. Is it not worth it to at least look at that third source and see if it can make a difference?"
Council member Doug Athas met with Brown, association president Chad Purcell and members of the police officers' association on July 30. Athas said the rates at the municipally owned utility are also high and that he would not be in favor of balancing the budget with higher utility rates or an increase to the operations and maintenance side of the tax rate.
"They're not bad guys. Nobody's a bad guy in this," Athas said. "They're just looking for solutions."
But solutions are hard to find in Garland this budget season. Dollar pointed to a 3.7 percent decline in property value and a nearly 11 percent decline in sales tax receipts. Bryan Bradford, the city's senior managing director of budget and research, earlier told the council there was a 60 percent decline in new construction this year and 9,000 unemployed people in the city of about 218,000.
Pressed by a constituent to either reconsider the firefighters' proposal or perhaps face trouble in the May 1 election, Athas posted a 2,000-word response on his blog.
"I was told that Station 10, the one closest to my home, might have to be taken out of service," he wrote. "The implication was that my family and neighbors would be less safe."
Athas does, however, credit the firefighters for standing up for all city employees, not just those in public safety.
"We didn't want to pit one department in the city against another," Purcell said. "Everybody is struggling. It doesn't matter what department we're in.
"The other thing we don't want to do is make citizens pay a price on top of the taxes. We're not asking for a rate increase."
Purcell said that 90 percent of the association's 229 members wouldn't say anything about taking the pay cut. But with staffing already stretched thin everywhere, he said the extra 24 hours time off being given to employees as trade-off for the pay cut has staffing and possible safety ramifications.
The council will have budget work sessions on Thursday and Aug. 20 and public hearings Aug. 18 and 26. It is scheduled to adopt the budget Sept. 1.
Debt service makes up 44 percent of the tax bill in Garland. From that, the city pays for its $126.1 million 1997 bond program, its $223.8 million 2004 bond program and $44.9 million in 2009 capital improvements.
Garland will not see utility rate increases, but for the average household water will go up $2.65, sewer $2.41 and the stormwater fee 24 cents.
And relief isn't coming for about three to five years, the budget director warned.
"We do not have any anticipation that we will struggle through this year's budget and then next year, everything will be OK," Bradford said.
Athas said the long-term forecast was one reason he was happy to see the employees get 3.5 percent raises in the 2008-09 budget.
"Last year, we could do it," he said. "This year is here, and it's hard. There's very little left to cut without a major impact to the taxpayers and the services they receive."
UPDATE: Comments closed to block spam hits.
Special Note: Outside spammers occasionally start bombarding a post and continue to do so until it is closed. That is what has happened to this post. I tried leaving it open but the spam continued coming. Multiple comments attract spam. I'm not referring to the posts below attributed to Mr Barnes. If he can identify himself, I'm happy to restore those posts. As to anyone wishing to comment on this subject, I would encourage a public discussion at a public forum such as the Garland Citizens Forum. That usually works better for a number of reasons. A back-and-forth discussion is more easily handled and others can find that particular thread and participate more easily.
[District 1 July Crime Stats] [Contact Numbers—City Departments]
[The DMN Garland Blog] [Citizen's Request Center]
Comments:
08/12/09 @ 18:47 The city manager did receive a bonus and he lost his COLA.
08/12/09 @ 20:03 I hope in the future the Council seriously considers reducing the Debt Service side of the tax rate and shifting those dollars to the O&M side of the tax rate so that salaries, benefits and, the most neglected area, staffing levels (which is always lower than other cities with which Garland is compared and was mentioned again by the Budget Director in his presentation this week which I read on line) can be increased. If you look at the history of the O&M side, it has been almost stagnant over recent history compared to the ever increasing Debt Service even though the cost of doing business has continued to rise.
08/12/09 @ 21:15 We can't reduce the debt side of the budget. That is the minimum required to service the city's debt without defaulting on our payments. If debt can be reduced in future years, and that is part of what I have been pushing for, we would be able to afford more on the O&M side. The debt side has been increasing. Since I've been in office, there has been an annual tax rate increase and that increase has always been necessitated by debt, yet the O&M has remained constant. Most of that debt relates to items approved by voters in the 2004 bond program.
08/13/09 @ 00:01 So follow a previous statement, that the ROI plan was "artificially create a cash crisis within GP&L", I guess this use of CASH to fund the parking garage artificially created a cash crisis within the General Fund that is leading to pay reductions, eliminating bi-lingual pay, and banking open positions.
08/13/09 @ 10:55
08/15/09 @ 07:57 Comments are closed for this post.
