Tight budget includes cuts

Jose Paul Corona

The City Council passed a $363-million city budget Monday night

that, at $7 million less than last year’s budget, means closing the

Shipley Nature Center, cutting the DARE program in half and

eliminating 41 city jobs.

After five long budget workshops that required council members to

consider and ultimately take some drastic measures unpopular with

many residents, the council passed the 2002-03 budget without dipping

into the city’s general reserve fund.

“I was impressed that the council was able to complete the budget

by using revenue,” said City Administrator Ray Silver. “They

responded well.”

Of the $7 million trimmed thus far, $3.5 million came as cuts and

another $3.5 million is added revenue through increased fees, Silver

said.

The council avoided dipping into reserves by hiking fees around

town such as those at the parking structure Downtown and adding other

charges, such as garbage collection fees for low-income seniors who

were previously exempt. The added income for trash fees alone was

more than $42,000.

Of the $363-million budget, 30% is capitol projects in the city

such as the sports complex and south beach improvement, Silver said,

while only 28% of it is salary and benefits.

But not everyone is as happy with the outcome as Silver. Many

residents are irate that the city has closed the Shipley Nature

Center and dropped responsibility for what they consider a city

treasure into the lap of a fledgling nonprofit group set up in an

effort to help support the center.

The new budget also cuts the Drug Abuse Resistance Education

program in half, scaling back the previously 18-week program to just

nine. Police Chief Ron Lowenberg has said there is enough money in

police coffers to fund the modified program for one year.

The program has been put up on the chopping block each year, but

council members have said they feel the program is too important,

despite studies that have been presented in the past questioning its

effectiveness.

With roughly half the felony convictions in the court systems are

drug related, the DARE program helps prevent children from using

drugs, said Councilman Ralph Bauer.

“That’s money well spent,” he said.

It was a give-and-take for the police department, however. Funding

for the police department’s crime lab had to come from somewhere,

Bauer said.

City staff was also reigned in when Silver suggested eliminating

41 positions, most of which were empty at the time anyway, he said.

“I’m leaving the hiring freeze on in anticipation of another hit

from the state next year,” he said, adding that the city is also

looking at what properties it might be able to sell.

Now that the council has put the city’s budget to bed, it will

have to wait and see how the state’s budget may impact it, Silver

said.

“We’re going to start preparing for the next possible reduction,”

he said. “The state budget may reopen in January [and] could aversely

affect cities.”

The state could transfer cost to Huntington or take funds from the

city depending on the situation.

“Having lost $16 million over the last two years, I think we did

pretty good,” Silver said.