D.C. calls budget 911 and weighs police, EMS cuts
The District is in such dire financial straits — one city lawmaker characterized it as a “crisis” — that officials are considering cuts to such sancrosant agencies as public safety and schools to ward off a growing fiscal 2011 deficit and a looming $345 million budget gap in 2012.
Social service programs and other discretionary spending face some trimming, but funding cuts in schools and public safety are inescapable, at-large D.C. Council member Michael A. Brown said.
“We have to look at programs that traditionally are not on the table,” Mr. Brown told The Washington Times. “Police, fire and schools. These are agencies that haven’t traditionally been on the table.”
By law, the city must establish and sustain a balanced budget and Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray has promised a hard line against new taxes, which means the District will have to come up with major spending cuts quickly.
“This is a crisis situation,” said Council member Jim Graham of Ward 1, a minder of the city’s safety net and usually an opponent of cutting social services. “We have to consider everything.”
Their comments followed Mr. Gray’s announcement Monday that the budget deficit had grown from $175 million in September to $188 million.
In his road map detailing the budget woes, Mr. Gray twice targeted special-education funding: One bulleted item cited $31.7 million in cost overruns, and the other listed $10.1 million in unbudgeted raises and rent-cost overruns.
In the area of public safety, lawmakers cited overtime costs as a long-standing budget breaker, and said that lax internal-spending controls at various agencies put pressure on the city’s finances. The Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, for example, overspent its overtime budget by nearly $9 million in fiscal 2008, $7.2 million in 2009 and $4 million this year.
But spokesmen for the city’s fire and police unions immediately criticized cuts in public-safety spending and suggested other places to find savings.
“I still do not understand how they are going to explain to the public that they’re going to have to be less safe,” said Kristopher Baumann, head of the union that represents Metropolitan Police officers. He said budget cuts that lead to fewer officers will mean less community policing and more crime.
“We’re going to have different expectations and a different vision about the way we police,” he said.
Mr. Baumann said excessive social service spending should be trimmed and fiscal accountability should be increased before anyone considers cutting public safety spending.
“That’s not good government. They keep saying we’re down to the bone but we’re not even through the meat yet,” he said.
Ray Sneed, president of the D.C. Firefighters Association, said he understands that “everyone is going to have to be held accountable” but that he thinks union officials should be consulted on the cuts.
“Hopefully, they go back and evaluate the budget and they won’t need to have to cut police or fire,” he said. “But if cuts need to be made, let us have the opportunity to sit at the table and be a part of the decision-making process.”
Mr. Sneed said some areas of the fire department, especially a recent growth in top-tier management positions, could be scaled back to reduce spending.
“I think you will see there are areas you can trim without an adverse effect on service delivery to the citizens,” he said.
The situation isn’t as bad as the mid-1990s, when the city didn’t have money to meet its payroll, and its financial and accounting records were in such a shambles that Congress and the Clinton administration created a control board to oversee D.C. affairs.
In this latest budget crisis, the city’s financial and data systems have helped pinpoint spending problems.
“The systems are in better shape, not perfect, but in very good shape,” said economist Alice Rivlin, a member of Mr. Gray’s transition team.
Mr. Gray offered few specifics on how he proposes to close the gaps, other than calling for a freeze on new capital projects, which could save the city $420 million over the next four years.
But his council colleagues were more forthcoming about cutting agency budgets and paying higher taxes.
Most of the city’s lawmakers support tax increases, and Mr. Brown said Monday that he will reintroduce his so-called millionaire’s tax bill, which the council rejected last spring. At the same time, the council also voted against an income-tax-raising plan by Mr. Graham.
“We will come to a meeting of minds on where the threshold should be,” Mr. Brown said.
On schools, Mr. Brown pointed out that spending has always been a contentious issue, especially since the mayor and council restructured governance in 2007, giving Mayor Adrian M. Fenty broad latitude to run schools while lawmakers gained the budget reins. Special education, which is under court supervision because of long-standing class-action lawsuits, has added to annual cost overruns.
Mr. Fenty and former schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee blamed the overspending on the council, saying it had shortchanged their budget requests.
Interim Chancellor Kaya Henderson leveled the same complaint Monday.
“Special education was underbudgeted for the last few fiscal years, which is leading to reports of overspending,” Ms. Henderson said. “In fact, special-education spending has remained constant for the past few years. DCPS has been working with [the office of the chief financial officer] to correct the reports and accounting which have lead to these reports.
“I am working with the mayor and CFO to make sure our budget is solid and financial systems correctly portray where we have areas of overspending,” she added, “but the issue as it relates to special education is underbudgeting in my estimation.”
But freshman lawmaker Mary Cheh of Ward 3 disagreed, saying the Rhee administration engaged in “smoke and mirrors” regarding all school spending.
“Since I’ve been here, first they tell us they do have the money, then they don’t. Then they tells us those numbers were placeholders. We have to have true numbers to solve the problem.”
The budget crisis leaves city leaders walking a tightrope of deadlines, as agency directors consider across-the-board cuts that could run as high as 13 percent.
The council will deliberate on and pass those stopgap considerations and send them to the outgoing mayor, who has vowed not to raise taxes. City leaders will have to take that record to Wall Street, which last year warned the city that unchecked spending could damage its bond and credit ratings.
With the local and national economies looking gray, the mayor-elect said he and other city leaders are trying to face the grim facts, including the possibility that additional spending pressures will emerge.
“Simply put … it’s time we distinguish between the projects we need versus the projects that we want,” Mr. Gray said.
He also promised residents and other stakeholders that he would not ask for “one single dollar in tax increases without first reassuring them that we have scrubbed the budget and found every last dollar in savings first.”
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter
Dare EMS budget problems stirring concerns
Dare County Emergency Medical Services workers are watching anxiously as plans unfold for creating new schedules and cutting overtime to address perennial budget overruns.
Because EMS shifts are structured as 24 hours on and 48 hours off, the work week comes out to 56 hours, creating the need for an annual overtime budget of more than $1 million.
County Manager Bobby Outten said Monday that the overtime budget has been consistently exceeded. Asked for how long, he said “several” years.
“I’ve got to get that operation within its budget,” he said.
EMS workers and their supporters, most speaking anonymously by e-mail and phone, say the scheduling has led many to factor the overtime into their family budgets. With base pay comparable to other counties, some say they need the extra money to pay bills in Dare, where the cost of living is higher.
An estimate commonly cited is that losing overtime would equate to a 10 percent pay cut. Some are concerned that the changes could weaken EMS as paramedics look for jobs elsewhere.
But Outten said the system now is “not sustainable in the long run.”
Plans have not been finalized, but Outten did say that changes are coming. County officials are analyzing call volume by time of day, seasons and months to see when overstaffing might be occurring. The county is also looking to fill five positions, he said.
The object, he said, would be to cut back during slower times, such as early mornings in the winter, and shifting assets to periods when they are most needed.
Structuring schedules at 24 hours on and 48 hours off is appealing to some workers because they are predictable enough to allow them to hold down second jobs.
Initial salaries for Emergency Medical Technicians are about $24,000 to $29,000, while paramedics can start at a little over $32,000. This year, salaries were budgeted at $3.1 million and overtime at $1.4 million.
At Monday’s Board of Commissioners meeting, two speakers expressed concerns about changes in scheduling.
Georgianna Dunn, a former Dare County paramedic, said she participated in a 1999 salary study. She said the structure and management needs retooling, but cutting personnel and the number of ambulances on call is not the solution.
“EMS needs radical management and staffing changes,” she said. “There’s no need for finger pointing or blame. We just need to fix the problem. Reducing the number of medics and ambulances on the road is not the answer.”
Crime Increases in Sacramento After Deep Cuts to Police Force
Officer Darrald Bryan, who had worked his way up to an investigative job in the robbery unit, was sent back to patrol last year along with 24 other detectives, a demotion that involved a pay cut of 5 percent.
By ERICA GOODE
Published: November 3, 2012
SACRAMENTO — At first, it seemed just an unwelcome nod to frugality. Overtime for police officers was reduced. Vacant positions went unfilled.
But each year brought more bad news for this city’s Police Department. In 2011, faced with the biggest budget cuts yet — $12.2 million — Chief Rick Braziel was forced to take drastic action: he laid off sworn officers and civilian employees; eliminated the vice, narcotics, financial crimes and undercover gang squads, sending many detectives back to patrol; and thinned the auto theft, forensics and canine units. Police officers no longer responded to burglaries, misdemeanors or minor traffic accidents.
Earlier this year, the traffic enforcement unit was disbanded. The department now conducts follow-up investigations for only the most serious crimes, like homicide and sexual assault.
“You reach the point where there is nothing left to cut,” Chief Braziel said.
The shrinking of Sacramento’s police force has been extreme; the department has lost more than 300 sworn officers and civilian staff members and more than 30 percent of its budget since 2008. But at a time when many cities are curtailing essential services like policing — the Los Angeles Police Department said last week that it could lay off 160 civilian employees by Jan. 1 — the cutbacks in this sprawling city of 472,000 offer a window on the potential consequences of such economizing measures, criminal justice experts say.
“Sacramento may be a good city to watch in terms of what we can predict for the future,” said Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum.
Noting that crime rates have plummeted across the country in the last two decades, Mr. Wexler said, “You could argue that the police have been doing something right.” But with budgets being cut, he continued, “police chiefs are caught between saying, ‘Look what we have done,’ and having to rethink the strategies that have been successful.”
Chief Braziel said he had tried to make the cuts strategically, making sure that the public’s highest priority — having a police officer respond in a timely fashion when a 911 call comes in — is met and preserving a focus on violent crimes. (“There’s no law that says you have to investigate homicides, but you don’t just stop investigating homicides,” he said.) Detectives serve on regional task forces led by the F.B.I. that focus on gangs and trafficking. To help morale, Chief Braziel has also offered short-term rotations to patrol officers, providing some variety now that their chances for promotion are severely limited.
“I could cry all day long about the budget cuts and the 30 percent and the loss of people and everything else,” Chief Braziel said. “But it doesn’t do any good because you get dealt a hand of cards with a budget crisis and you’re playing stud poker — you can’t give back the cards and say deal me two or three more.”
“You’ve got to figure out within the new rules of the game how to do it better,” he said.
But he is not blind to the effects of paring down a police force to its core.
In 2011, Chief Braziel said, the cuts, in his opinion, went past the tipping point. While homicides have remained steady, shootings — a more reliable indicator of gun violence — are up 48 percent this year. Rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries and vehicle thefts have also increased, though in smaller increments.
Complicating matters, the cutbacks have coincided with a flow of convicted offenders back into the city as California, heeding a Supreme Court ruling, has reduced its prison population. Once released, former inmates have less supervision — the county’s probation department also suffered cuts.
Chief Braziel, an optimist by nature, said the reductions have in fact had some benefits — more experienced officers on street patrols, for example. But the gaps are increasingly evident.
When a patrol officer stopped a car a few weeks ago and found the driver in possession of half a pound of recently cooked methamphetamine, worth $20,000 on the street, there was no one to spend the 10 hours it would take to write up and execute a search warrant for the man’s residence, despite the suspicion that a meth laboratory would be found there.
“It’s frustrating,” said the officer, Darrald Bryan, who had worked his way up to an investigative job in the robbery unit but was sent back to patrol last year along with 24 other detectives, a demotion that involved a 5 percent pay cut, a switch to the graveyard shift in order to keep his weekends off and the loss of his take-home car.
“You just don’t have the manpower,” said Officer Bryan, adding that the best he could do was arrest the man for possession and sale of narcotics. Now that the gang squad is gone, patrol officers take turns in 90-day assignments that focus on gang activity. But undercover work is a thing of the past, and a highly successful program called Ceasefire, intended to reduce gang violence, was halted for lack of money, staffing and community resources.
Sacramento has consistently ranked at the top for traffic accidents among cities of similar size in California. But with the demise of the traffic enforcement unit, citations are down, volunteers have to be called in for large-scale events like races and parades, and efforts to analyze the city’s most collision-prone intersections and address their hazards have been abandoned.
Teams of police officers — known as problem-oriented policing teams — once worked the city’s troubled neighborhoods, following up with residents, landlords and government offices to solve problems identified on patrol. But those teams, too, were a casualty of the 2011 cuts.
“Would I rather be a drug dealer, a speeder or, if I was involved in the prostitution trade, would I rather be involved in that today as opposed to four years ago? Absolutely,” said Lt. Justin Eklund of the major crimes section. “The issue comes down to, ‘If we have X amount of bodies, what are we going to do?’ ”
Not every attempt to prioritize has worked out as planned. Burglaries had been dropped from the list of crimes that officers responded to. But that policy has now been reversed, after patrol officers heard complaints and residents resisted filing the online reports that were intended as a substitute.
For many residents, said Deputy Chief Dana Matthes, “the one time in their life they have to call the police is because their house is burglarized, and we tell them: ‘Oh, report that online. We can’t come out.’ It doesn’t send that customer service message that we’re there for them.”
But Chief Braziel said the budget crisis had forced the department to re-examine how it is organized and what its priorities should be. Even when the economy relents, he said, some things may be done differently. “You’ve got to have a business model,” he said. “The world’s changing, and you’ve got to change. You’ve got to get out in front of it.”
Bernard K. Melekian, the director of the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, said a similar rethinking was taking place across the country as departments coped with dwindling budgets. Many are consolidating services or merging with other agencies to form regional law enforcement authorities — in November, Camden, N.J., will close its department, terminating 273 officers and ceding control to a county police force.
The result, Mr. Melekian said, will be significant shifts in how policing is practiced. Whether the outcome will be simply an increase in efficiency or an increase in crime is anyone’s guess.
“That’s the big question that everybody is looking at,” he said.
A version of this article appeared in print on November 4, 2012, on page A26 of the New York edition with the headline: Crime Increases in Sacramento After Deep Cuts to Police Force.
KTI-Media, Resource Providers for Public Safety Departments, Cites Recent Detroit Fire Department Incident as a Lesson for Other Departments NOT to Follow
DENVER, Oct. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – After reading an article last week about a paramedic in Detroit, Michigan being reprimanded/terminated because he did not seek permission before he provided a disabled elderly man, dressed only in his underwear, a warm blanket so he would not freeze outside while his home was on fire, a question came to mind of what condition are our emergency services in when things like this happen?
It should not come as a surprise to anyone that public safety departments today are without question grossly underfunded, due to the economy. But, have department heads really done everything in their power to rectify their situations?
With over 90% of departments being in the red, difficult financial problems breed bad decisions that tend to be made by department officials, which lead to really bad policies being implemented that could have usually been avoided through proper management.
“It’s appalling to me to see an employee being punished for performing their job to the best of their ability by their peers, and face retribution for using municipalities’ resources, such as giving away a blanket,” said Todd Wessels, Vice President of KTI-Media. “Departments seem to be mystified as to why they cannot get any additional public support for such things like referendums, tax increases or even letters of support from their community for grant funding, and continue to wonder why. These departments are truly biting the hands that feed them in these types of situations. What community is going to stand behind a department that won’t even provide a half-naked elderly man a blanket in the cold as his house burns down? I honestly could not write a better script for good departmental customer service of what not to do like Detroit Fire Department has just provided us when we teach our classes on good customer service, and employee retention.”
According to KTI-Media the best advice that any department can follow is to provide excellent customer service. This builds a positive community around the department and opens the doors for financial opportunities in a multitude of ways. The Services they perform are usually free or at a minimal cost, and helps departments apply for grants, low-cost loans, etc. to supplement their income, while also teaming up departments with vendors on the purchase of supplies that can help save them upwards of 35% in operating costs.
Another service they provide is real-life education by inviting departments to their Everyday Heroes Funding and Products Expo, held in Las Vegas every June, with the 2013 event being held June 19th-21st. With approximately 80 free classes and over 55 greatly reduced continued education classes, they are able to help provide a better financial structure for public safety departments. Participants that attend this expo will be provided with the tools for better financial decision-making, better education on grants, developing department customer services, and education about the latest technologies and services. For more information about KTI-Media, the expo or their services visit kti-media.com or call Peggy Morton at 1-888-611-6660.
This press release was issued through eReleases® Press Release Distribution. For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com.
Potential budget cuts being evaluated for county
Union Leader Correspondent
But starting Jan. 1, while the town will still have two precincts, there will just be just one fire department, one chief, and two captains, as the fire departments are in the process of merging with the goal of providing better, faster service to residents.
“We know that by having a unified command, we will have a faster response and there will be no wondering who is in command, which is a problem we have sometimes now,” said Rene Lefebvre, who is currently the East Andover fire chief and has been nominated to become the town’s lone chief when the change is made.
Town planners originally thought two fire departments were needed because Andover is a large town in terms of its land, covering 41 square miles. But it is has a relatively small population of about 2,100.
With two fire departments and two sets of officers and firefighters, residents aren’t served as quickly as they could be, Lefebvre said.
“We’ve had cases where a firefighter would have to go back to the other side of town just to be with the right department,” he said.
The fire departments are combining with the blessing of the town. It’s not going to cost anything to make the change, Lefebvre said, and for the present, there will still be two budgets and two sets of fire commissioners. Those functions could be combined in coming years as well, he said.
The two fire departments have been training together for the past two years in preparation for the change. The combined training is already producing dividends, he said.
“By training together, we can all be sure that our focus is the same, we’ve all been together at the same (fire training) courses and we all know each other,” Lefebvre said.
Residents don’t need to adjust to the change, though they will start seeing better service on Jan. 1, and the combined departments hope to save taxpayers money as they move toward someday having a common budget, he said.
“Firefighting, fire ground, and command operations will become a well-rehearsed plan, and not a ‘who-does-what’ disaster,” Lefebvre said. “Working together, we can be safer.”
Amherst may end free police service for charity events
Amherst may end free police service for charity events
Could ask charity events to reimburse town
BY: Sandra Tan
The Ride for Roswell, which drew more than 8,000 riders to the UB North Campus in June, is among the charitable events that would have to pay for police service under a proposal being considered today by the Amherst Town Board. (James P. McCoy / Buffalo News)
Organizations that sponsor public events that end up costing more than $1,000 in police traffic control should fully reimburse Amherst for those expenses, according to a proposal that Supervisor Barry Weinstein and several Town Board members will put before the board today.
That would affect more than a dozen races and events, ranging from the Race to Cure Childhood Cancer 5K, which police say costs about $2,520 in wages and overtime, to the Ride for Roswell, which police say costs the town about $9,732. It would also affect several 5K races organized by local Catholic churches and numerous other walks and races organized to benefit everything from programs for those with disabilities to disease research. The costs currently are borne by town taxpayers.
Some race organizers say the proposal would reduce the money they raise for charity or jeopardize their events.
“That would be crazy,” said Lee Federiconi, co-owner of Lebro’s Restaurant and organizer of Lebro’s 5K Fall Classic. “I wouldn’t do the race. I wouldn’t put it on.”
The Lebro’s 5K raises about $10,000 for pediatric cancer research, he said. If he continued to do the event, he’d have less money to give to charity, because the police would require a reimbursement of $2,380. Traffic control for events such as his should be considered part of the Police Department’s routine responsibilities, he said.
“To live in the Town of Amherst, we pay so much money in taxes,” he said. “And now they’re going to say, ‘Shame on you. You can’t do this event anymore because it costs us too much money.’ That doesn’t make any sense to me.”
The town has always been a good host for the Ride for Roswell, which draws more than 10,000 riders and volunteers, according to Leslie Garrity, a spokeswoman for the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation. She said the event could absorb the cost of town reimbursement – $9,732 – but the money would be taken out of funds that would otherwise be raised for cancer research and patient care.
“We will do whatever we can do to keep people safe,” she said.
The town is, for the first time in years, looking at cutbacks to some services to keep taxes down at a time of growing pension costs and other budget increases over which the town has no control. Weinstein said targeted cuts to both the Police Department and the Youth and Recreation Department are necessary.
The proposal to require reimbursement for certain road races and events is expected to save the town $54,165, the supervisor said. Weinstein’s resolution is co-sponsored by Council Members Richard “Jay” Anderson, Steven Sanders and Guy Marlette.
Council Members Mark Manna and Barbara Nuchereno oppose the resolution and have submitted budget amendments to eliminate the proposed cut.
The proposal would not require reimbursement for any events sponsored by, or for the benefit of, the Village of Williamsville, school and fire districts in the Town of Amherst, the Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village (formerly known as the Amherst Museum), and the Memorial Day Parade.
The proposal also reiterates current policy that all road races and events requiring police presence be properly registered with the Town Clerk’s Office and receive permission to proceed. Currently, not all events register with the town.
Amherst’s preliminary $116.5 million budget for 2013 increases spending by 1.2 percent, or about $1.4 million. However, higher revenue projections, some spending cuts and an increased use of town reserves would keep the property tax levy flat compared with this year.
In related news:
• Weinstein has recommended a variety of other budget amendments to restore what the police chief calls the minimum acceptable level of money for the purchase of police vehicles. Weinstein had cut the police vehicle budget from $359,000 to $202,000.
The budget transfers he’s recommending would increase the police vehicle budget to $259,000, Weinstein said. Other amendments, which would be budget-neutral because of offsetting reductions, would add money to pay for an entry-level laborer in the Highway Department, two promotions in the Planning Department and a part-time clerical position in the Assessor’s Office.
• Manna has introduced 17 budget amendments that, among other things, restore most cuts to the Police Department and Youth and Recreation Department, reduce the budgets for Town Board members and the Supervisor’s Office, and eliminate health insurance for board members.
He said these costs would be offset by higher projected revenues to sales and mortgage taxes and the greater use of town reserves and other savings.
• Nuchereno has sponsored three resolutions to restore money for police vehicle purchases, police traffic control of road races and events, and money for nonprofit groups that provide services for the town’s Youth and Recreation Department.
The Town Board’s final budget meeting will be at 7 p.m. today in the Amherst Municipal Building, 5583 Main St., Williamsville. The meeting will be preceded by a work session at 3.
Andover fire departments working to join forces
Andover fire departments working to join forces
Union Leader Correspondent
But starting Jan. 1, while the town will still have two precincts, there will just be just one fire department, one chief, and two captains, as the fire departments are in the process of merging with the goal of providing better, faster service to residents.
“We know that by having a unified command, we will have a faster response and there will be no wondering who is in command, which is a problem we have sometimes now,” said Rene Lefebvre, who is currently the East Andover fire chief and has been nominated to become the town’s lone chief when the change is made.
Town planners originally thought two fire departments were needed because Andover is a large town in terms of its land, covering 41 square miles. But it is has a relatively small population of about 2,100.
With two fire departments and two sets of officers and firefighters, residents aren’t served as quickly as they could be, Lefebvre said.
“We’ve had cases where a firefighter would have to go back to the other side of town just to be with the right department,” he said.
The fire departments are combining with the blessing of the town. It’s not going to cost anything to make the change, Lefebvre said, and for the present, there will still be two budgets and two sets of fire commissioners. Those functions could be combined in coming years as well, he said.
The two fire departments have been training together for the past two years in preparation for the change. The combined training is already producing dividends, he said.
“By training together, we can all be sure that our focus is the same, we’ve all been together at the same (fire training) courses and we all know each other,” Lefebvre said.
Residents don’t need to adjust to the change, though they will start seeing better service on Jan. 1, and the combined departments hope to save taxpayers money as they move toward someday having a common budget, he said.
“Firefighting, fire ground, and command operations will become a well-rehearsed plan, and not a ‘who-does-what’ disaster,” Lefebvre said. “Working together, we can be safer.”
City budget includes layoffs, fee increases
City budget includes layoffs, fee increases
By Jeff Bollier
of The Northwestern
Oshkosh City Manager Mark Rohloff is proposing a 2013 budget that relies on staff cuts, including three firefighters, and fee increases to balance a budget that would keep spending increases to a minimum.
The proposed $65.4 million budget would increase spending by $748,000, or 1.1 percent compared to this year’s budget. But the overall budget reduces the tax levy by $68,000 and the tax rate by one penny, to $8.79-per-$1,000 of assessed property value, or $1 in taxes for the owner of a home assessed at $100,000.
Finance Director Peggy Steeno said the city’s tax levy limit, which is by state law, declined by $68,000 after factoring in new construction’s increase of $175,000 in levy capacity, a small increase in debt service and a decrease of $240,000 as a result of the health department being taken over by Winnebago County.
The result, Steeno said, is that proposed budget leaves no room to increase tax revenue.
Rohloff said employees’ share of health insurance premiums will remain at 12 percent and the city’s health insurance fund reserves will cover any cost increases the self-funded plan may incur. But that was some of the only good news contained in the budget.
Increased police and fire salaries as a result of new contracts, funding the city’s new pay-for-performance incentive program and switching equipment replacement from capital improvements to the budget ate through savings generated by the shift to automated trash pickup and other cost reductions resulting in the $748,000 increase in total spending.
The revenue needed to cover the increase in spending will come from increased ambulance fees, permit revenues, police fines and state transportation aid for local streets.
Major changes included in the budget are:
• The elimination of 9.25 positions in public works, police, fire, administrative services and community development. The net loss will be 8.25 positions after an economic development position is filled.
The cuts include layoffs for four full-time and two part-time employees, while the remainder of the cuts are the elimination of vacant positions.
The vacancies to be cut include 1.25 public works positions that will no longer be needed due to automated trash collection and three vacancies at the Oshkosh Fire Department.
The three positions from the fire department will come from the five-person unit that staffs the department’s heavy rescue truck. Rohloff said two firefighers will operate the vehicle, but other firefighters already at an emergency scene would help the unit fulfill its responsibilities.
The staff positions that will require layoffs include a records clerk, a community programs coordinator and a part-time word processor in the Oshkosh Police Department; an Oshkosh Community Media Services production assistant, a part-time custodian and the deputy assessor, whose position will be eliminated with a proposed transition to contracting out for commercial assessments.
• An increase of $626,300 in pay and benefits for police and firefighters related to union contracts, some of which remain under negotiation.
• In spite of the police and fire increases, overall pay and benefits for the city’s work force will decrease by $265,200.
• Almost $1 million of equipment with life spans of less than 10 years will be shifted into the operating budget from the capital improvement program, which funds purchases with borrowed money. Rohloff said bond rating agencies and the city’s Long Range Finance Committee suggested the switch to avoid borrowing for things that have to be replaced before the debt incurred to buy them can be paid off.
• Public Works spending will decrease from $7.9 million to $7 million because the city has completed its purchase of new trucks for recycling and refuse pickup and also as a result of fuel cost savings from switching its garbage trucks from diesel to less expensive natural gas.
• The Oshkosh Public Museum and Oshkosh Public Library have proposed targeted furloughs to reduce their overall budgets by 5 percent.
Price of protection: Some Bay City firefighters face losing their jobs in proposed public safety plan
BAY CITY, MI — Rick Wells loves his career as a firefighter, despite the three pink slips he’s received in his nine years working for the Bay City Fire Department.
Firefighter Rick Wells has worked for the Bay City Fire Department for the past nine years, and has faced layoff on several occasions. He poses here with a truck once used by the department now housed at the Dobson Antique Toy and Firehouse Museum in Bangor Township.Colleen Harrison | MLive.com
His next layoff notice could be his last. The Bay City Commission is expected to vote as soon as next month on a plan to combine the police and fire departments, using more people who are trained for both jobs. The plan could reduce the number of dedicated firefighting positions from 43 to as few as 18.
Wells has been laid off before due to his lack of seniority and his position is vulnerable under a consolidation plan. He isn’t waiting for the city to decide his future.
Wells, who lives in Bay County with his wife and their three sons, ages 2, 7 and 8 years, graduates in April from Delta College with a nursing certificate. He’ll pursue that as a career if he loses his firefighting job.
“I can’t count on my job and the instability,” Wells said. “I love being a fireman, but when you have bills to pay and a family to support, the only smart thing to do is to get an education.”
Being pink-slipped is not unusual for firefighters working in Bay City. Union representatives say if the Bay City Commission approves a public safety plan proposal, employees with the least seniority will lose their jobs.
Several firefighters who talked with MLive.com and The Bay City Times said the proposed merger is having a negative impact on the atmosphere in fire stations across the city, especially morale.
“It’s been bad and it’s getting worse, but it has been bad for a long time,” said Matt Wiltse, a 13-year veteran firefighter with the Bay City Fire Department. “We feel like we are always the one getting messed with.”
Although Wiltse is roughly halfway through his career, his job also is now on the line due to a lack of seniority. He lives in Hampton Township; his three children attend Essexville schools.
Wiltse said he feels like he is not appreciated for the job he performs as an employee for the city. He calls himself “one of the low guys,” his name just six spaces from the bottom of the seniority list of Bay City firefighters.
“They expect everyone to come in here and put on a smiley face and act normal,” Wiltse said. “It’s difficult to do.”
Chris Reynolds is an engineer with the fire department and agreed morale has been bad for years.
“For the past 10 years, all we have been dealing with is constant threats of being laid off,” Reynolds said. “We still come to work and give residents 110 percent when called upon, but morale is very low.”
Firefighter union representatives say membership doesn’t have a voice in planning the public safety consolidation proposal. A number of firefighters on the potential layoff list, though, spoke about their reactions to the proposal.
Wells thinks are there are too many disadvantages to the proposed merger, such as certification and training that firefighters are required to have that might not be offered to police officers during basic training.
Wells said he would be willing to cross-train as a police officer but would rather remain in his chosen department.
“I love being a fireman, but the political part I can’t stand,” he said. “There’s the job itself and then everything else that goes with it.”
Reynolds said a merger of fire and police would mean bad news for residents.
“It’s going to be a complete waste of taxpayers’ money and eliminate over 50 percent of fire protection capabilities,” Reynolds said. “The reality is it will cost the city more money that they don’t have to create this public safety department.”
Reynolds called the department’s situation a “perfect storm” and cited the bad economy as just one piece of the financial puzzle.
“I hope in the end, if we have to reduce, let’s do it through attrition, early buy-outs, and keep the integrity of the department,” Reynolds said.
Engineer Patrick Hanley has been an engineer for more than 18 years with the Bay City Fire Department and has mixed feelings about the proposed merger.
“It makes it difficult for us to wonder what tomorrow will bring,” Hanley said. “A lot can happen between June of next year and now.”
He is worried about finding another job as a firefighter because of his age and the career field, where he said hundreds and even thousands of people are applying for one job.
“Next year I will be 52. No one’s looking for 52-year-old firefighters. Who’s even hiring?” Hanley said.
Hanley was with another fire department for 20 years before he was hired in Bay City. He said he has no other skill set besides his chosen career of fighting fires.
“When you give 18 and a half years to a place, that’s a heck of a sacrifice,” Hanley said.
Many of the firefighters live in Bay County with their families, like Wells, Wiltse and Reynolds.
“I’ve got kids in school here, my wife works in the area, my in-laws live here. I’m not going anywhere. Bay City is my home,” said Reynolds, who has two children, ages 5 years and 3 months.
“Someone needs to stand up for the fire department in this city,” Reynolds said. “I guess it’s left to us.”
Bay City officials will present Bay City’s public safety proposal to the Bay City Commission at a 6 p.m. meeting Monday, Oct. 29 at the Pere Marquette Depot, 1000 Adams. The plan’s goal is to save the city about $2 million a year.
The commission could vote on the measure at a November meeting, officials say.
By Jessica Haynes | jhaynes@mlive.com
on October 22, 2012 at 8:00 AM, updated October 22, 2012 at 8:07 AM
CBO estimates final FY2012 budget deficit at almost $1.1 trillion
CBO estimates final FY2012 budget deficit at almost $1.1 trillion
Thursday, October 11th, 2012
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the final FY2012 federal budget deficit was almost $1.1 trillion, slightly more than $200 million lower than FY2011. The decline in the deficit resulted from a decrease in government spending (-$59 billion) and higher revenues (+$148 billion).
CBO estimates are based on Daily Treasury Statements produced by the Treasury Department.
When measured as a percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the deficit dropped to 7 percent from 8.7 percent in FY2011 and 9 percent in FY2010. Even so, the FY 2012 deficit as a share of GDP was higher than that recorded each year from 1947 through 2008.
According to CBO, two-thirds of the revenue growth in FY2012 was due primarily to rising corporate income tax receipts (+$61 billion) and higher individual income tax receipts (+$37 billion). CBO asserts that growth in corporate receipts stems from recent changes in tax rules. Increases in withholding (+$24 billion) accounted for almost two-thirds of the increase in individual income tax revenue. Receipts from social insurance taxes (+32 billion) and other sources (+18 billion), such as estate, excise, and gift tax receipts make up the remaining increase.
CBO analysis determined that federal spending declined in FY2012 from the previous year for all major categories of spending except Social Security, which rose by about 6 percent (+$42 billion). DoD outlays declined by $27 billion, somewhat due to lower spending in Afghanistan. Overall non-DoD spending also decreased in FY2012, although some agencies (e.g., VA, State, Homeland Security, and EPA) recorded spending increases, according to CBO.
Unemployment benefits decreased by $30 billion (as fewer people collected benefits in FY2012) from the previous year and Medicaid outlays declined because the federal share of program costs expired in mid-2011.
The Treasury Department will report the official final FY2012 budget deficit by the end of October.
