Tuesday, December 07, 1999
City told it needs to slash millions
2 councilmen first target social events
BY ROBERT ANGLEN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Looking to create a balanced budget within six years, two Cincinnati council members today will propose to strip several projects of city funding and lock spending at a level equal to inflation.
To head off a predicted budget shortfall of $17 million in 2004, Republican Councilmen Phil Heimlich and Pat DeWine say council must cut $3.4 million a year for the next five years.
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PROPOSED CHANGES
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• When the city prepares a six-year forecast, budget a carry-over of at least 2 percent of expenditures every six years.
• Revenues will always exceed spending.
• Once a budget is approved, council cannot spend any more money unless it cuts something else or finds additional revenue.
• Increases in the general fund shall not exceed inflation in any year.
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Some of the initial cuts would include a $100,000 production fee for Ujima Cinci-Bration festival, $100,000 to the summer Artworks program for youth, $60,000 to the Greater Cincinnati Film Commission, $195,000 to the Solid Opportunities for Advancement and Retention (SOAR) program and $159,000 from council office budgets. The proposal will be brought before council's Finance Committee.
The councilmen also want to consider turning over prosecution of misdemeanor and traffic cases to the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office and architectural contracts and vehicle maintenance to private companies.
“If we don't act, then three or four years down the road there is going to have to be cuts in basic services,” Mr. DeWine said. “The bottom line is these are not priori ties.”
But Minette Cooper, Finance Committee chairwoman and part of council's Democrat majority, said the budget proposal is “going to need to be re-evaluated.”
She said the predictions of a deficit came after Mr. Heimlich supported a tax rollback that cost the city about $2 million. Mr. DeWine was not on council when the rollback was approved.
“He made the motion and got it passed before he got the forecast,” Ms. Cooper said. “Now we find ourselves in this position.”
The rollback is one factor City Manager John Shirey cited for an increase in this year's expenses, including overruns in the city's health and fire departments.
Ms. Cooper said Ujima — a downtown festival that runs at the same time as the annual jazz festival — has received national recognition and “is a good thing.” She also credited SOAR with helping the down-and-out.
“Those programs are lifting people up, they are helping people at large,” Ms. Cooper said, adding that she did not want to debate issues “off the floor.”
Mr. Heimlich contends that many of the programs were approved last year by the council as part of a $14.5 million budget addition. He said many of the programs have other funding sources and should not have to rely on the city.
“The real problem is these groups come in and insist on public money,” Mr. Heimlich said. “These groups are politically influential. That's where we've got to be strong.”
The proposed cuts are in addition to $4.8 million the city manager made in an update of the city's $656 million budget last month, including shifting the responsibility for nursing home and day care inspections from the city to the state.
“I support all of (Mr. Shirey's) cuts,” said Mr. Heimlich. “It just doesn't go far enough.”
In their proposal, Mr. Heimlich and Mr DeWine give the city manager authority to make any other cuts necessary to reach the $3.4-million-a-year objective.
“Now is the time to start cutting,” Mr. Heimlich said. “If we don't, we will be floating in a sea of red ink.”
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