Budget Committee Suggests Cost-Cutting Measures

Members of the newly formed met Monday to begin finalizing their suggestions for balancing next year's city budget, which is estimated to have a $1.8 million deficit.

The volunteers have been given copies of many of the city's financial documents and asked to brainstorm ways the city could bring in more money, as well as prioritize what city services should remain unaffected and which ones should be considered for revisions or outright elimination.

Many of the ideas that made the committee's revised list were previously . The new list is not complete, however, as committee members will be able to revise it before a final list is submitted to the mayor and City Council.

Here are the ideas that made the committee's revised list on Monday:

• Ask voters to approve a citywide millage.
• Go paperless.
• Convert the landlines in all city-owned buildings to VoIP (voice over Internet protocol).
• Sell non-buildable lots throughout the city.
• Utilize for more activities, including an indoor soccer league and concerts.
• Create a magnet school to train apprentices.
• Review user fees.
• Build a dog park and charge people to use it.
• Offer an amnesty program to collect outstanding tickets/fines
• Increase rental opportunities at the city's historic buildings.
• Create a four-day work week for city and employees.
• Convert the city's nonunion, non-administrative personnel to purchase service classification to eliminate insurance and fringe benefit costs.
• Study the city's banked leave policy and how much municipal workers are able to earn from it.

The idea of asking voters to approve a millage took up the majority of the committee's time. Opinions differed as to how long the millage should last and how many mills should be levied.

Ideas ranged from 1.0 mill to 3.5 mills, with 3.0 mills being the popular choice. The longevity of the millage ranged from one year to five years, with three years being the popular choice.

If a 3-mill, three-year millage is approved by voters, it would cost the average homeowner about $450 overall or $12.50 a month, City Assessor Colleen Keehn said.

With the exception of the millage, committee member Brandon Crupi said he doesn't believe the other recommendations will collectively save $1.8 million.

If a millage is levied and voters reject it, Crupi said, there's only one message to send: "Sorry, citizens, the millage didn’t get passed. The only way to fix that is your services are cut.”

The committee will not meet next week due to the Memorial Day holiday. The next meeting is 5 p.m. June 6 in the training room on the second floor of the . The meetings are open to the public.

The committee also plans to host a public forum in June to get input from residents.