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November 15, 2010
Budget Season & Saturday Parking
Historically, this has always been my most favorite time of
year. The City of Lancaster is at its most beautiful during
that brief period of fall where the leaves change colors and
have yet to fall off the trees forcing me (or more likely my
wife) to rake them all up . For the sports fan we have just
finished up the World Series, are a few weeks deep into
football season and awaiting the start of college basketball.
Now that I am a father I have also began to once again reap
the benefits of Halloween and trick or treating. We call it a
Daddy tax in my house and regardless of the
promises/pledge/guarantee/charter made by our Governor-elect
this tax is certain to increase year after year. I also look
forward to spending my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, with my
growing family. My wife and I welcomed our first son on June
25th of this year, Lincoln Jude…I have high expectations.
As a Council
member I also get to spend this time of the year looking
forward to assisting in getting the City budget together to be
presented to Council by the end of November. This process has
already started within the administration and we will hold
public hearings throughout the month. After a 25% increase in
the municipal property tax last year I think we can all agree
that the ideal situation would call for no more increases.
Eighty-one percent of our $46M budget is spent on the Salary
and Benefits of our employees with 13% going to operating
expenses and 6% going to debt service. The vast majority of
that 81% goes toward the salary and benefits of our Police and
Fire Departments. After honoring whatever salary increases
were agreed on or awarded in arbitration we find ourselves
with little wiggle room and not much left to look for savings.
Something we need to keep in mind this budget season is that
every year since 2006 we have decreased personnel and still
have been unable to keep up with annual expense increases. I,
like everyone else, will be interested to see how negotiations
with our Public Safety unions turn out.
Throughout
this entire year City Council has not passed any legislation
that would increase our spending and have found numerous ways
to cut costs. A few quick examples are refinancing a bond
issue (savings $270k), and consolidating our IT department
with the County (another $275K). I think we have stayed true
to our promise of making decisions based on “wants” vs.
“needs” and will continue to look for opportunities to save
taxpayers money. One of the most important things we must
remember this budget season is that there will be no cost of
living adjustment for Social Security for the second year in a
row. How can we expect seniors on a fixed income to deal with
another property tax increase in addition to the increases in
water & sewage rates, electric bills, and all other household
expenses?? That’s right…we can’t.
I look
forward to exploring all options with City residents at our
upcoming budget hearings.
At our
recent Public Works Committee meeting Chairman Roschel held a
public hearing to address the enforcement of Saturday Parking
meters. During a previous administration there was an
executive order issued allowing free parking on Saturdays,
regardless of whether or not there was a meter. Our
recommendation was that we begin to enforce the ordinance as
written in the city code and limit it to the most commercially
concentrated areas in the Downtown Investment District. The
reason being is that there have been a number of complaints
from downtown retailers who rely heavily on parking turnover
in front of their businesses. There seems to be a number of
downtown employees who get to these parking spots first thing
in the morning and remain all day. If there is a residential
street within the district that enforces Saturday meter
parking and they are able to qualify for permit parking (70%
of neighbors must agree and sign petition) they will not be
subject to citations. Most outsiders who come in town are not
aware of the free parking anyhow so it is not something that
is going to deter visitors. There was also a recommendation to
start enforcing the meter parking at 9 a.m. as opposed to 8
a.m. I will keep you up to date once we hear from the City
Solicitor.
Comment on this
Blog entry: Comments should be directed to Councilman Smith at his
email address. Comments are posted here.
April
20, 2010
Budget Transfers and Public Meetings
I have to
apologize for the delay since my last post but the weather,
work and Council has done a great job of distracting me over
the past few weeks. This is certainly my favorite time of the
year with all my neighbors coming out of their winters-long
hibernation and getting to sit on the porch and watch my girls
play hopscotch on the sidewalk. It also is the time of the
year where my wife mandates, like it or not, at least a few
hundred walks around downtown every week….and she is 8 months
pregnant.
The finance
committee did not have anything new on the agenda for March,
but has had a few new items come to council in our first April
meeting. In addition to approving the obligatory legislative
budget transfers to cover workers compensation for the quarter
I learned of something I was never aware. The previous
council passed a resolution in August of 2008 that allowed the
Lancaster City tax collection bureau to sell off some of its
defaulted property tax bills to the Lancaster City
Redevelopment Authority. In return the Redevelopment
Authority pays the City up front 90% of the defaulted fees.
The City taxes are still paid and received in the same manner;
however, the Redevelopment Authority gets reimbursed for those
late tax bills they paid the City for upfront. What the
resolution actually accomplished was raising the amount of
late tax claims the City could sell from $650,000 to $920,000
for 2009 and not to exceed $1.2M for 2010. I understand why
it is important for the City to have this money as quickly as
possible; however, is it worth losing 10% of what is due.
After further questioning I understood the rationale a little
more. First of all, there is no promise that the taxes owed
will be seen anytime soon. Without that money incorporated
into the City’s cash flow we may not be able to satisfy our
own obligations such as salaries, debt service, benefits and
other costs the City is responsible for. The properties with
these outstanding tax bills may be condemned, up for a
Sheriff’s sale, foreclosed or it is possible the owner just
doesn’t have the capital. Once again, the City’s reliance on
nothing more than property taxes to fund every aspect of the
City operations seems counterproductive.
Since we are
on the subject of taxes I would like to do a brief infomercial
for the recent town hall type meetings with the Mayor. The
administration has held four out of its five meetings with
residents to detail the current financial situation of the
City. I was disappointed to only see a few people in
attendance last week at Reynolds middle school. You would
think that in our current economic state where every dollar
means a little more, residents would have come out to show
their concern over future tax hikes. I hope the
administration holds these meetings again before budget time
in November to give taxpayers the opportunity to see where
their money is going. I am certain it will scare people to
see how little we spend on things other than safety personnel
salaries and benefits. I recall coming to budget hearings in
the past to see how passionate people were and I wonder why
those people are there now. The most ironic part was the
people picketing outside the budget hearing last year. It was
a public meeting! If those people were really so concerned
all they had to do was walk inside and voice their
disagreements with the budget…clearly, not as good of a photo
op.
Comment on this
Blog entry: Comments should be directed to Councilman Smith at his
email address. Comments are posted here.
February
10, 2010
Firefighter Layoffs & Frustration
In the midst
of the second snow storm in 4 days, City Council met with a
full agenda. There were three new items out of the Finance
Committee that had to be addressed and two Bills dealing with
the Police, Fire and non-uniformed Employees (AFSCME) early
retirement and incentive programs that had their second
reading. The Police Union and AFSCME negotiations had come to
a close before the first reading without any layoffs and only
recently did we get the final outcome of the Fire Unions
negotiations where the final result was not as happy.
First of
all, as a resident of the City, it is terribly disappointing
losing any firefighters let alone the youngest guys in the
department. I think we can all agree that Fire Fighting is a
profession where younger individuals have an advantage dealing
with some of the physical stresses that are involved. Now, I
am not going to say that this is always the situation but for
the most part I think that is an accurate statement. These
four guys poured their heart into their work and I have heard
nothing but positive feedback from people that know and work
with the Firefighters that lost their jobs. Their passion for
what they did was clear when they showed up at our Council
meeting last night to address the negotiations and their
disappointment with the outcome…especially in the middle of a
blizzard.
This has
been the hardest part of being in Public Service so far. I
quickly came to the realization that a lot of the decisions
that are made are not decisions between right and wrong but
decisions between something that’s extremely difficult and
something even worse. This was one of those situations.
Anyone that
has been following along in the paper knows that in order to
avoid layoffs the Police needed to have 13 people take
advantage of the Early Retirement, while the Fire Department
needed 9 and AFSCME needed 4. AFSCME ended up with 6 people
taking advantage of the package so nobody was laid off. The
Police department had 8 people accept Early Retirement, 2
Patrol Officers resigned and 3 officers on Military leave
deployed overseas equal the 13 positions. To be forthright,
the 3 officers that are deployed overseas will eventually make
their way home and will have a position with the Police
Department. I don’t believe any of them are expected back
this year so we will have to rely on future retirements and
other openings to avoid laying off Police in the future as
these Police Officer-Soldiers return from fulfilling their
obligation to protect the Country. Nothing is easy, and as
crushing as it is have to lay off anyone I hope for a safe and
speedy return of everyone involved.
The Fire
Department had 5 people accept Early Retirement (with 31
people in the Department eligible) leaving 4 positions left
vulnerable to layoffs. The City offered the Fire Department
the opportunity to accept a 1% raise instead of their
previously negotiated 3.25% and avoid any layoffs. The Fire
union voted this down resulting in the layoff of the 4
Firefighters. I have had people tell me and have read in a
number of different places that the Fire Union would have
accepted a 0% pay raise in return for two years of guaranteed
no layoffs. I am not sure if this accurate or not but looking
at the budget and seeing the deficit we face as early as next
year and every year following, we need to understand the
reality of the situation we face. We are no longer kicking
the can of debt down the road waiting for some future
administration to pick it up and throw it in the trash.
Promising no layoffs in the next two years is just not a
reality. The continued increase in salaries, healthcare and
pension costs with no other ways to increase our revenues but
through tax increases we are stuck between a rock and a hard
place. Management Partners is a consultancy firm that was
hired by Mayor Gray when he came into office to look for ways
to streamline processes and cut costs city wide. Some of the
recommendations have been enacted as recently as a few months
ago when the City moved it’s IT department up to the County
level saving about $270k. The reason I bring this up is
because Management Partners also made the recommendation for
the schedule change in the Fire Department that would result
in savings of over a million dollars. This would decrease
active fire platoons from 4 to 3 and would ask Firefighters to
work an additional 8 hours a week. These extra hours would
not go uncompensated because the City and Union would have to
come back to the negotiating table to work out some
arrangement for overtime pay. Could it result in future
layoffs?? I have to be honest and say I imagine it could. Is
this something I want to happen or hope happens…absolutely
not. To not look at these savings and give them a serious
consideration would be an absolute disservice to tax payers
who were just socked in the face with a 25% tax hike.
I live in
this city and I don’t like paying the taxes. I also don’t
want good Firefighters or Police Officers who obviously love
their jobs to be let go in the worst recession since the early
1930’s. I don’t know where to direct my anger, but I can
certainly understand the frustration of those firefighters let
go. Why would they be mad at those individuals that they
stand next to everyday and risk their lives…the City and the
Mayor are an easy target. I wish them the best of luck in
this atrocious job market and only hope that we have some of
our older Firefighters take advantage of retirement so we can
bring these 4 guys back on ASAP.
In closing I
want to address a few things. I recently attended a meeting
which had people in attendance from Cities and Municipalities
all over the state. I spoke to people from every municipality
and let me tell you not a single City was in a position where
they weren’t faced with making tough decisions on downsizing
their Police and Fire departments. Most of them are ten times
worse off than we are. Harrisburg recently made a National
news aggregate’s website for their teetering on the brink of
bankruptcy. I know plenty of people are beating the drum for
a 1% county wide sales tax right now, and as conservative as I
am when it comes it to money, and as sick I am of being taxed,
we need to consider this as an option. If this isn’t viable
then someone needs to come to the table with other ideas
because the situation is serious. I have seen houses for sale
around the City drop their selling prices 25% to compensate
for their taxes. This is crazy. People are losing out on
equity they have earned in their homes and it is affecting the
values of houses in neighborhoods citywide. How much longer
can we deal with this? When the city refinanced their last
bond option that I discussed in my first blog Moody’s (a
credit ranking service for Corporations and Government
Entities) recently confirmed our rating as 3A because of the
steps we made in dealing with our financial situation. I have
gone on too long now and need to get back to playing with my
daughters before they destroy my office, but I want to say one
last thing. As terrible as it is to lose four Firefighters
there is a bigger problem that exists and needs to be
addressed. Four firefighters this year could easily increase
in the future unless these problems are addressed.
In my next
blog, I am going to address those individuals who want to
discuss the bloated salaries of those employees in the Gray
Administration. I am only going to address Patrick Hopkins
because as Chair of Finance this is who I have had the most
contact. I just want to make it known that anyone who thinks
he is overpaid has no grasp on reality and the business
world. Patrick could be offered a position making three times
what he makes now at any private firm no questions asked. I
challenge people to look at what he does and what he has saved
the City in the first month of 2010 and tell me he isn’t worth
$83k/year. I have friends who are half as competent making
twice that. I am thankful he cares enough about the city not
only to work 12-hour days but also to actually LIVE here.
ts
Comment on this
Blog entry: Comments should be directed to Councilman Smith at his
email address. Comments are posted here.
January 12, 2010
Fiscal
Prudence
In my first
City Council meeting as Chair of the Finance committee, we had
the opportunity to finalize a piece of legislation that was
first introduced in November 2009 in committee. The Bill
allowed the city to refinance an outstanding bond first issued
in 2003. In the November committee meeting the bill was
presented with a lot of blanks due to the fact that the
auction for the bond had not occurred and, therefore, the
details weren’t available. The first reading occurred in
November and put the City in a position to act swiftly if
market rates became favorable for a refinancing. The goals was
for a 2% (or approx. $160k), and after 7 firms and 32 bids the
City was able to secure a 3 ¼% savings equaling approx. $250k.
This refinancing allowed us to decrease our reliance on
reserves by a quarter of a million dollars.
I am not
sure if I am a glutton for punishment, but I was excited when
Council President Louise Williams appointed me to Chair
Finance. This is going to be a tough couple of years but I
couldn’t be more up for the challenge. I have had finance and
budgeting experience in my regular job, and am in the process
of getting my MBA from Penn State. This gives me a great
opportunity to apply what I am learning in the real world
while the information is still fresh.
In addition
to dealing in finance I was invited by Councilman Tim Roschel
to attend the Red Rose Council for the Blind monthly meeting
at the library. I learned a great deal watching Tim deal with
the groups concerns and it felt great to be in a position to
provide some assistance. This is why I ran for Council in the
first place, and being able to help is the greatest honor. At
the end of the meeting we developed a plan to bring the Red
Rose Council for the Blind into the planning process for the
Accessible Pedestrian Signals being piloted at certain City
intersections.
Finally, on
a lighter note…I have been to quite a few Council meetings in
the past and attendance has varied depending on what hot
button issues were on the agenda. As I walked into my first
meeting I was immediately terrified because the place was
packed with people, including news cameras and a few other
reporters I recognized. I also saw a number of teachers and
staff from Lancaster Catholic High School which is where I
graduated from. I wasn’t sure if they were there because it
was my first Council meeting or because they had some plan to
expose me over the few hundred detentions I served for talking
in class, chewing gum or the spit ball incident in History
class. I then remembered one of the reasons we were there was
to honor LCHS’s State Champion football team. So I was a
little delusional. I should have known Pat Principe wasn’t
there to hear me talk about a bond refinancing. I look forward
to hearing your feedback.
Comment on this
Blog entry: Comments should be directed to Councilman Smith at his
email address. Comments are posted here.
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