FeedsCouncil readies for next budget session
“Putting together a budget is not as much fun as it used to be,” said Wayne City Manager John Zech. “But I think we’re going to be all right.”
The Wayne City Council is about to enter the budget preparation season. They will recent a draft of the document at their next meeting on Tuesday and have their first study session scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, April 23.
“It’s going to be difficult, but I don’t think it’s going to be as difficult as it has been in the past,” said Finance Director Tim McCurley.
He referred to last year, when increasing costs and stagnant revenues contributed to the need to make major cuts in the budget and lay off some employees.
“Last year we had to do some things to get some areas in check,” Zech said. “We did it. It was painful, but it helped us out this year.”
The City of Wayne operates on an annual budget of about $19 million. Of that, the police department uses the largest chunk, at about $6 million. The Parks and Recreation Department is next, followed by the fire department.
The largest overriding cost for any municipality is staff. The city continues to negotiate with its bargaining units to get concessions on health care and retirement costs, but those will be applied to new hires, not current contracts. Zech said he also would not recommend any changes to current retiree packages this year. Staff levels are still down, according to Zech, but services have not been impacted.
“We basically held off on hiring anyone for a while and we’re making do,” he said.
Zech said the millage rate for residents, at 19.87. The city may have a little wiggle room in that, though, since the debt for the incinerator will be paid off at the end of this fiscal year. That will free up about $140,000 for the general fund or some other area, without the necessity of a millage increase.
There are still some question marks, though, notably what will happen to the state shared revenue the city receives from Lansing. One proposal to help eliminate a budget deficit at the state level is a reduction in state shared revenue to municipalities across Michigan. The $40 million savings could mean that Wayne will receive a $97,000 cut in state shared revenue.
Zech said the city council should have the budget finalized and approved in May. It goes into effect on July 1, when the 2007-2008 fiscal year begins.
“We’re going into this making some assumptions about what Lansing will do,” Zech said. “But I don’t have the luxury to wait until fall, when they will decide something.”
