Toledo Talk "Toledo Mayor wants to reduce his salary and the size of City Council" id 20171

To help balance the city's budget, Mayor Carty Finkbeiner is offering to take a 10 percent pay cut, and has called for a reduction in the number of city councilmen from 12 to eight. Under the proposal, the mayor's pay would drop from $136,700 to $123,030, effective "upon appropriate action."

The reduction in the number of city council members would take effect in 2009, the next scheduled round of municipal elections after this fall [2007]. The mayor said in his letter that he chose eight as the optimum number of council members after reviewing the number of councilmen serving in the eight largest cities in Ohio.

I assume the council reduction idea is still under review by some committee, and the city is on track to have the change ready for next year.

Good thing Toledoan's back in March voted to continue the 25-year-old temporary 3/4 percent payroll tax.

Toledo's money problems from unemployment, overtime, and fuel costs during the first half of 2008 have helped sink the city more than $2.5 million in the red, Finkbeiner administration officials said yesterday. At its rate of spending, the city could end the year with a $5 million deficit. John Sherburne, the city's finance director, said income-tax collections are below expectations for the year, property taxes are down because of revaluation of properties, and revenue from traffic enforcement cameras have fallen short.

As to the revenue problem with the cameras, I guess that means the cameras are doing their job, and people are driving safer, which is what I thought the traffic cameras were all about. Well, that depends upon who you talk to.

The new agreement with Redflex Traffic Systems Inc., of Culver City, Calif., which operates the cameras, would generate an additional $2 million next year for the city, police Chief Michael Navarre said. "The job of the police department is to do enforcement and reduce accidents," Chief Navarre said. "If we increase revenue while we do that, that is a fortunate byproduct. It is certainly not our objective."

Councilman Rob Ludeman said he was a skeptic when the cameras were introduced in 2001, but was won over by the evidence of reduced accidents at camera intersections. "What sold me was not so much the revenue source but making the intersections safer," he said.

Councilman Frank Szollosi said the proposed agreement is "good news for the budget," but bad news for traffic violators.

Councilman Tom Waniewski asked if the Finkbeiner administration would consider installing flashing yellow lights in advance of red lights to warn motorists. "I'm concerned that a lot of times now, particularly now with increased air patrol, which is intended to be a revenue generator, that we're becoming a gotcha city," Mr. Waniewski said.

Council President Mark Sobczak said the increase request does not seem to have opposition from councilmen. "No one likes to raise fees but, quite frankly, we are trying to balance the budget," Mr. Sobczak said. "It's not out of the range of acceptable fees, and the administration is counting on increased fees to help balance the budget."

The City is counting on the increased revenue to help the budget which means, they are counting on residents of NWO to run red lights and to speed through intersections. After all, if you all slow down and follow our traffic laws by driving safely then imagine the horrible affect it would have on our budget.

So based upon today's Blade story, the City needs more dangerous, law-breaking drivers at intersections with traffic enforcement cameras.

Some budget woes for the city of Toledo... leading to the possible layoffs of as many as 15 city workers next month: Mayor Carty Finkbeiner would not say what departments may be affected... he blames the shortfall on lower than expected red light and parking fines, and says the situation will be reviewed over the next few weeks.

Wednesday is the day that the Finkbeiner administration begins to reign-in spending in an effort to close a projected $5 million budget deficit. The city will mandate two-day furloughs... charge for gas those who take city-owned vehicles home... and limit cell phone use. The city last month also announced plans to pink slip up to 12 employees. Mayoral Chief of Staff Bob Reinbolt acknowledges the problem doesn't end with this year's budget. For his part, Fire Chief Mike Wolever says he's done all he can to reduce overtime in his department.

To correct the budget problem, the city is exploring every option, including layoffs, Mr. Sherburne said. Within the city of Toledo, 8.5 percent of the 146,300 adult workers were seeking a job last month.

In addition to sinking revenues, costs are skyrocketing. "We have higher overtime, and fuel costs are tremendously high," Mr. Sherburne said. Though the city has used about 36,000 fewer gallons of fuel during the first half of 2008, over the same period last year its fuel cost was much higher. Regular wages and overtime are up for the city because of higher spending by the police, fire, and refuse departments.

Councilman George Sarantou, chairman of council's finance committee, said overtime costs have been the biggest problem for the city, followed by rising fuel costs. "The biggest contributor to the overtime is the fire department's time," Mr. Sarantou said. "They have a 103 minimum staffing level that is making the overtime soar."

Councilman Joe McNamara said council should avoid using the city's rainy-day fund, which has $6.4 million. Mr. McNamara recently warned council that the city would not be able to continue handing out 3 percent annual wage increases to its bargaining units. The city slashed about $22 million in spending over the last two budget cycles. Mr. Sherburne said 2009 likely will bring even more cuts for the city.

Higher spending by the refuse departments, eh? It's a good thing Toledo city government in the Spring of 2007 created the new ~~refuse fee~~ [city tax], and we must applaud city government for continuing with that fee for a second year.

$6.4 million rainy-day fund minus the $2.5 million deficit equals $3.9 million on the plus-side.

The city's financial report for the year up to May 31, compared to the first five months of 2007, shows :