Budget Deliberations Start

With a workforce facing more layoffs and proposed furloughs, the City Council’s first budget session Tuesday produced concerns on how to limit acting pay and overtime to fill in the gaps.

The governing body launched budget deliberations on the SFY 2011 budget with reviews of the city’s two largest divisions, Police and Fire within the Department of Public Safety. Salaries and wages for both divisions are down from last year in the introduced budget, but the responsibility for coverage of public safety duties will basically remain the same. Among suggestions to stretch personnel, the Fire Division will seek promotions to avoid acting pay and the Police Division will try to get more civilians employed to prevent sworn officers from having to fill in for dispatchers and cell block attendants.

The public safety scenario will likely be echoed in other departments, as Public Works employees may face 10-day furloughs while trying to keep up with their busy year-round schedule.

Speakers Tuesday described past shrinkage, such as a drop in Fire Division administrative staff from 19 in 2004 to nine presently. In the Police Division, a civilian staff that deals with gun permits, police reports and staffing the front desk has dwindled from seven to four, three of whom are facing reduction to part-time hours.

The council also discussed issues including emergency medical coverage for the city, crime prevention strategies including downtown cameras and a gunshot detection system, the need for improvements at the South Avenue firehouse, the impending retirements of numerous Fire Division staff, and shared services within the city and with Union County.

Presenters had been given 10 questions to answer, to streamline the budget review process, but City Council President Annie McWilliams was not pleased with some of the answers Tuesday.

“If anyone is coming before us asking for money, they should be prepared,” she said, noting the governing body deserved more than “five or six pages that we can read on the city web site.”

She said the council only received answers that night on the 10 questions for public safety divisions. With seven to 10 more budget sessions scheduled, McWilliams said she wanted five-year data comparisons from divisions, whose directors “should be able to do off the top of their heads.”

The next budget session is 7 p.m. Thursday in City Hall Library. To see the Council President's blog post on budget deliberations, click here.

--Bernice Paglia