2009 anticipated cuts from the state to our $514,000 promised LGA have also been dealt with. We have a list of 16 actions we can take to cover part or all of the LGA cuts we will be facing due to the historic state deficit. The first 9 need to be adopted immediately. Some may ask why not wait to make cuts until we find out how much the state is going to cut our payment. The answer is it will be to late - the money will have already been spent.
The days when Isanti or any city can count on the State to keep its financial house in order are over. The State legislature and Governor have failed the cities and counties twice in 5 short years. We must do what every small an medium sized business must do, live within our means. We can not rely on state and federal help. When and if we get our LGA payments great, we can rebuild reserves and capital equipment funds but relying on LGA for daily operations must become a thing of the past.
Isanti is in a good position to weather this storm because of the Long Term Financial Planning I had pushed for after I was first elected Mayor in 2006. There will be pain felt by every City department from previous spending cuts and future actions. Many of our states cities and counties have little to no reserves and rely on state aid for as much as 80% of their entire budget. Isanti receives roughly 17% of our budget in state aid.
I will detail the 16 item list that the Finance Committee will be asking the Council to adopt. Remember the first 9 need to go into effect immediately.
- No new non-budgeted spending
- Eliminate charitable giving by the Council ($10,000)
- Cut City Council travel and training budget by 50% ($2,500)
- Cut EDA travel and training budget by 50% ($1,500)
- Hiring freeze on replacement positions ($30,000)
- Eliminate Warming House staff for outdoor ice rink ($3,000)
- Cut EDA Marketing budget for Granite city Welcome signs ($5,000)
- Transfer a further $100,000 from liquor store funds - good thing we did not build a new liquor store or this money would not be available
- Eliminate transfer in Revolving Loan Fund ($14,000)
- Eliminate 2009 transfer into Capital Replacement Fund ($106,000)
- Rewrite City loan from City sewer fund that paid for the cost over run on City Hall ($50,000)
- Eliminate position from Police Department and/or Public Works - if labor/health care cost can not be lowered - if State does not fulfill its commitments
- Lower General Fund Balance ($300,000) one-time funds
- Transfer from Capital Replacement Funds ($572,000) one-time funds
- Transfer from Revolving Loan Funds ($130,000) one-time funds
- Inter-city fund loans (Sewer and Water Funds) ($500,000) one-time funds
The elimination of positions is a structural change and its impact takes months to hit the bottom line. The employees have a 60 notification and the City would be paying unemployment as well on those positions.
We will not know until late spring or early summer what to expect from the state but we will have all our plans in place for different funding levels. This is also happening when the City is receiving fewer property tax dollars from non-payment due to foreclosures and failed developers.
We are facing historic tough times but we are prepared and will come through this together. The fund reserves for the City especially in capital replacement and others are at historic highs through our excellent planning. We will also be tasking committees to go through each respective department for structural savings. If other savings can be achieved or the state lives up to its promises the items on the list past number 9 may never need to be taken.
One quick note on a repeated question to me - The Mayor and Council have had no raise in pay since I have been on the Council and as Mayor I am paid just under $4,000 a year and Council Members make less than that.
19 comments:
Mr.George Wimmer,
I am a resident of Isanti and i currently work in Isanti. I am a member of the Chamber of Commerce and have met you several times. I believe you are doing a wonderful job as mayor of our city.
I read your blog and am aware of the reasons the city is in need of cutting spending and jobs. My only concern is job cuts from the police department. The police officers do a great job of protecting our city and i feel they are all very important for everyone's safety, especially with all the schools. Is there anything else we can cut other than police officers?
Thank you for your time.
I understand your concerns and the City has already cut 3 other positions and has left a public works position unfilled. It would be anticipated that if an officer position were cut it would be the 5th or 6th position cut and only if LGA was significantly cut.
We also share the cost of the School Resource officer with the school district. If the school district cuts their funding we would not be able to make up the difference.
I had fought for years to get the officer position hired in 2007 and would not want it cut unless we had to absolutely do it. Another issue is keeping all employee cost down during these tough times which includes future raises and health insurance.
The elimination of an officer would also be a structural shift in the City budget to anticipate less state funding over the long run.
Mayor Wimmer,
Police cuts should not even be thought of or mentioned. As a citizen of this city I speak on behalf of many friends and neighbors who all feel the same.
As the tuff Economic times continue the Police will be needed more and more. Can anyone truely tell us that they believe crime will not increase?
If I were a criminal or even someone who was having a hard time in life, I sure like to see that the POLICE are being cut. That creates a green light to go ahead and perform crimes in the City!
Mayor Wimmer.. please. You are a smart man and a great Mayor. You must be able to create a scenario where public safety is a top priority and Police cuts dont need to happen.
Money is an issue and that is understandable. Why not cut wages or other costs? Wouldnt the city be better off if they still had all their Police Officers but the Officers didnt get pay raises? In the hard times ahead it would make more sense to pay less money and keep everyone working for the city, versus putting another person on unemployment.
Please dont cut our Police. They will be needed now more then ever..
Again I will say I am the last person who would want to cut an officer especially since it would be the officer position I spent years working to hire. We have already reduced 4 other positions in the city. An officer is not the first position to be considered and hopefully will not happen but we have to state it as an option.
I Would of course prefer other options but the City can not put a wage freeze on union employees. The City has a contract with our officers and public works employees.
Our last round of negotiations with the police union went to mediation because they felt a 3% increase was not enough.
I would think a zero increase or cut would not be acceptable to the union. It will be one of the discussion points with our unions if it gets to the point of needing to cut positions.
We also need to remember the School Resource Officer is partially funded by the school district and if they cut their funding we would most likely have to do the same. Isanti City Taxpayers should not be responsible for district wide cost.
This option would mostly go into effect for 2010 or later if the State completely fails to live up to its promise.
The City is faced with a situation akin to your employer saying hey we are taking the pay we gave you the last 3 months back and we are going to cut your salary in half the next year or two and you are stuck in this job.
We are also taking active actions to improve the situation. The foreclosure program to get some of our empty houses filled to generate tax revenue. Having our tax collection down 10% due to foreclosures and failed developers has hurt the City.
If everyone paid their taxes and assessments we would be much better off but that is not the case.
We have been faced with a perfect storm of non-payment of taxes, failed developers and the State failing to plan.
I also need to reiterate that not only LGA is being cut but so is the reimbursement to cities and counties for the tax credits people reciece on their homes. A homeowner still gets the tax credit from the state but cities and counties are not getting the same level of reimbursement from the state.
Basically the state gets to look good for the tax credit but the cities and counties are the ones that have to pay for it.
Mr. Wimmer,
I understand that your thoughts on losing a police officer, but why do you keep focusing on this "school resource officer?" I feel a police officer in the schools is an invaluable resource for the school and the children to understand that police can and are your friends, not someone to be leary of. Also if you share the monetary demands of this position with the school district it should already be a smaller portion of your budget than other positions.
I understand there is a Community service officer who deals strictly with ordinance enforcement, can't the other officers do ordinance enforcement on an "On call" basis along with ensuring our safety and well being?
What about non essential staff such as clerical staff? I realize they are important staff, but cutbacks in that area would allow the police to stay on the streets.
Thanks for reading, and considering my thoughts.
Two clerical/administrative positions were just cut as part of cost savings.
The school resource officer is the position with the least amount of senority and by the union contract senority is how position elimination is determined. I also refer to the position due to the shared cost of the position, if the school district cuts its funding the entire position would rest on our shoulders.
Nuisance control is different that police work and the CSO is a part time position making much less than an officer. A well maintained city helps keep crime low....
I would be happy to meet with any concerned Citizen and discuss the options before us.
at least george puts a plan out there for us to see. i am a long timereader of his blog and have seen all the effort he put into hiring the new police officer last year.
he has cut spending everywhere and if it were not for him there would be no police officer to cut in a year or 2 if the crazy people at the state can not get their $%*& straight.
where is eastlund and olseen taking the blame for their screw ups at the state.
George knows what he is doing. I only wish the state had a clue. Here come the taxes!!!
Mr. George Wimmer,
I supported you 100% during the elections because I new you were pro law enforcement. Cutting officers is not the answer.
I understand and recognize what you are going through with dealing with cuts. But you have to admit yourself that cutting a police officer, expecially one that projects and looks after our children on a daily basis is not the thing to do.
I have a child that attends school in Isanti. It is much easier to send my daughter to the bus stop knowing that she is going to a school that she will be safe in.
I read in previous posts that the school resource officer was that last hired and based on senority it would be the position to go, well, all the more reason to look somewhere else for cuts.
Police cuts should not be a consideration what so ever. I can't believe we are posting blogs begging you to keep the police. In my personal opinion, police cuts are unacceptable!
Are you having fun in Mexico -
As we have discussed in this blog in the past the school resource officer is shared expense between the city and the school district. the district use to pay 50% of the expense and it is now down to about 30%. If it is cut further it makes it difficult to justify why the Isanti City taxpayer should further subsidize the school district.
I hope you bring your argument to the school board when they are looking at their cuts.
A possible police cut is listed as the 12th action - not the first.
We are working on a number of other cost saving items such as cooperative buying and joining an insurance cooperative pool. We need to have union support on any changes in our insurance system but hopefully this will be accepted as it should save everyone cost.
These and others are not listed out as they are not definite items at this time.
Again I hope you will come in and see me at city hall so we can go over all this in detail.
1 more quick note. The first 9 items will bring in $165,817 and the next 2 items equal $156,000 totaling $321,812 or 63% of the promised LGA for 2009. If they cut more than 63% of the promised LGA than step 12 gets looked at.
24% of LGA was cut in 2008.
Everyone will have things they do not like in the situation we have been placed in by the state's failure. We have a request to build a City library. This would have been tough in the best of times and is all but impossible now.
We have eliminated all administrative support from City Hall. Any more cuts there and we start losing departments.
So "Anonymous" you make it sound like you were 100% behind George but 1 disagreement about something that may never actually happen and you throw him out the door. With friends like you who needs enemies!!!
Is anyone voicing their same concerns at your State Government? The people that put us in this position. Aside from our local city government, its a sad state of affairs as it goes up. Poor budgeting, unable to figure out who won an election. A poor showing all around
I would hate to loose a police officer too, I do enjoy the rounds they make through the neighborhoods, but if times are tough then I guess it has to happen. Thankfully its lower on the list of things to cut. I guess if an officer does get cut, we as a community need to pick up the slack with things like neighborhood watches and getting more involved with the school district.
My question is, if we end up cutting an officer, how hard would it be to get the position back and how long would we have to wait if we budget to get one back?
There should be very little difference if any in neighborhood patrolling.
If this position needs to be cut in 2010 or 2011 will depend on the long term decisions made by the state. If the state permanently cuts LGA then we will need to reevaluate how we provide services. The state is still going to tax us and take this money but they may not be sending as much of it back to us.
Again I have a strong belief that we will not have to cut a position but it will come down to revenues coming in and cost going out. Health care cost and labor cost are our single largest expense as a City and we will need to improve the long term balance of each of these.
Another issue is unfunded mandates the City has to comply with - requirements from the state that they want to take place but will not fund.
For the critics out there, can you name any other local or even state official that runs their own blog, tells us exactly what they are planning to do and then invites comments and discusses the decision making process.
I do not always agree with George and sometimes getting pretty mad at him but I do admire the fact he knows how to lead!!!
How do you like the fact the school district and county raised taxes are both cutting staff and programs all the time. Where are all the angry letters these 2 groups. George mentions a possible cut in a few years and people are jumping all over him.
gimme a break
Well for all the times I see 3 cops running a speed trap out of city limits we might be able to get a long without 1 if we have to.
The stats george put up showing over 60% would have to be cut from the stat is pretty telling. If the state screws up that much then we are all in trouble.
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