City Expects to Face Shortfall of $500,000 or More

The City of Greenfield now knows the shortfall it will be facing should Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal pass without any changes.

Mayor Michael Neitzke revealed the city will see a decrease in state aid of $966,000 at Monday's Common Council meeting.

That total includes a reduction in shared revenue of $526,000, a loss of $263,000 in general transportation aid and the loss of a $177,000 recycling grant.

Using the so-called “tools” Walker’s budget-repair bill provides, namely requiring some public workers to contribute more to their pensions and health insurance, the city would see an estimated $350,000-400,000 in savings, meaning it is facing a shortfall of around $500,000-600,000.

Neitzke eluded to shrinking that shortfall even more by asking protective service employees to contribute more to their pensions and health care plans as well. They are currently excluded from Walker’s plan.

“Many people don’t know this but the pension we pay for them is about 21 percent of their salary. The other employees of the city are at 11.6 percent,” Neitzke said. “Police and fire make up roughly two-thirds of our employees. As a matter of fairness …  there will be some burdens clearly falling on one-third of the employees that are not part of the protective services.”

Greenfield has cut $1.7 million from its budget over the last two years, and this year, based on the legislation, there is no opportunity for a tax levy increase.

“We’ve been trying to keep our budget in line,” Neitzke said. “This will have an impact on 2012, clearly.”

Neitzke also called on the city to rally together and continue to support all city employees. He cited a report of firefighters being booed while walking through a local grocery store.

“The recently passed legislation and the causticness of the discussion out there has an adverse impact on good people that work for the city,” he said. “The police officers, the fire fighters, the guys that plow the streets when it snows … these are all very, very dedicated people. It worries me tremendously that the tone of the conversation has shifted to the point where these people are now the evil ones.

“We all provide very professional service under strained budgets. Those budgets will be strained further. The people I have talked to in the city basically understand the financial concerns that are out there and are just basically looking for fairness.”