Published: November 22, 2008 10:36 pm         

Talk about tax levy continues

DANVILLE — With only a few weeks left before the council’s final vote on the tax levy Dec. 16, Ward 7 Alderman Steve Foster and Ward 6 Alderman Steve Nichols are pushing for the tax levy amount to stay the same, not increase by almost 8 percent.

But Mayor Scott Eisenhauer says the property tax amount levied needs to be increased, in addition to finding as much as about $3 million in personnel and department cuts to balance next year’s budget and put the city in a better position in years to come.

Overhead must be reduced to address the dramatic rise in police and fire pension and Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund costs or aldermen will be in the same position to make more cuts next year, Eisenhauer said.

The proposed $6.9 million levy is again up for review Tuesday.

Nichols thinks the worst thing the city can do right now in this tough economic climate is to raise taxes and take more money out of people’s pockets.

Eisenhauer, however, has said the levy could increase and the tax rate decrease, which has happened during the last few years.

To make the levy amount stay the same, the amount abated through the bonds and interest fund would increase from $399,865 to $911,100. This is because general fund expenditures would increase by $511,235 in order to abate what was unfunded by the property tax.

Also, to keep the levy the same, the projected $1.4 million deficit heading into the 2009-2010 fiscal year would increase to about $2 million.

Eisenhauer said just cutting pens and paper clips or clerical positions won’t be enough.

“We must be willing to accept the idea that we can no longer do what we have in the past the way we have done it in the past,” he said.

“We need to sit down and go at it hard and heavy,” Eisenhauer said of budget cuts for the next fiscal year. “We need to cut anything and everything we can and reorganize everything and anything we can.”

He said residents will need to be prepared for city services to operate differently.

Eisenhauer has not yet publicly proposed cuts, but he asked city staff in the summer how the departments can provide services more efficiently, and city employees had a financial retreat in October.

Foster thinks aldermen need to have more initial say of what the cuts will be.

Last budget season, Eisenhauer proposed closing one fire station and eliminating nine firefighter positions, representing a to-tal salary of $410,904.

But after public and firefighter outcry, aldermen voted to add the firefighters back. Aldermen voting against adding the positions back were Dale Brandenburg, Ron Candido, Foster, Nichols and Jerry Askren.

Personnel cuts can aid in next year’s pension and IMRF numbers.

Eisenhauer said he’s not picking on any one city department with cuts, but an across-the-board 10 percent cut, as some people suggest, would hurt some departments too much.

“It would hamper every department to perform effectively,” he said.

City officials must prioritize which services they must provide, determine how to provide them efficiently and then determine what else the city can provide with any available funds, he said.

“We’re going to cut. This is not the time to be implementing new revenues,” Eisenhauer said.

Foster said he’ll talk on Tuesday about how much an employee costs the city, public safety versus non-public safety, with anticipated increases in salaries and benefits.

“It’s an awareness thing,” he said about reviewing the costs with the other aldermen.

Foster said just cutting the municipal band, pool and other common thoughts of ways to save money don’t make large budget impacts.

“Every department we can streamline. Do we need this many here and here? I don’t think we should put it all on the mayor,” Foster said of identifying budget cuts.

He said the cuts shouldn’t be the same across the board, but vary by department.

“Some departments can take bigger cuts than others,” Foster agrees. “The mayor is going to have to do some reorganization. This is the tip of the iceberg.”

Foster worries about the stock market numbers and the city’s percent of pension contributions decreasing even more instead of catching up.

He wants to have “an open, frank discussion” to look for dollars to balance the city’s budget.

“I don’t want to see anybody lose their jobs or services cut,” he said, but added that many residents are saying make the personnel cuts and that they can do with a little less city services.

Also Tuesday, the committee will consider approving:

--A vacant structure ordinance requiring owners of these buildings to register their properties with the city, pay a $50 registration fee and provide a plan of rehabbing it or knocking it down.

The city will conduct status checks every four months. Non-compliance of a plan at status checks will result in a $500 penalty fee. The ordinance also requires plywood, colored to match the building, be placed in broken out windows to maintain a building prior to action.

--A revised city zoning ordinance.

COMING UP

The city council’s Public Services Committee will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Robert E. Jones Municipal Building, 17 W. Main St.