FeedsBudget questions linger
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Many cities use their Downtown Development Authorities to fund activities within the districtThe Wayne CIty Council will face some difficult decisions next week.
The council is set to approve the budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year after a public hearing at the May 20 meeting.
“It’s been a difficult time, but there are some positives,” said Wayne Mayor Al Haidous. “You look at the list of cities that in bad shape, and the City of Wayne is not on there.”
City Manager John Zech presented the budget to council last month that showed expenditures slightly higher than revenues. Despite having two fewer full time employees and moving a .10 mill levy from the refuse collection to the general fund, Zech still proposed to take more than $260,000 from the fund reserves, leaving only $378,000.
He also suggested closing down and selling off the city-owned building that houses the Wayne Youth Services Department and moving that department to the Wayne Community Center. The budget calls for selling two old fire trucks, as well. Zech said he hoped to generate $150,000 from the three sales.
“I think that’s pretty conservative,” he said.
One of the full-time employees could come from the youth services department, which raised concerns for director Barb Christner, who was also concerned about losing the space on Wayne Road.
“We deal with a lot of confidentiality issues here,” she said. “How do you move all of this into the parks and recreation building?”
The building, which is located north of Sims Avenue, was ideally suited for other reasons, too. Many of the youth served attend Wayne Memorial High School, and they can walk there after school.
The loss of the full-time employee would be even more difficult, she said. The position was initially funded through Title V grants, but the funding for those has run out. The grants require a small local match to begin with but a larger and larger contribution from the community each year.
“Grants are meant to start things,” she said. “They not put ot there to balance budgets. They get things going and the community is supposed to carry them on.”
Zech said the decision wasn’t an easy one, but it was a sign of the difficult economic times. The other full-time employee was a buildings and grounds keeper in the parks and recreation department, where a promotion left an open position that will be left vacant. The three current full-time grounds and maintenance workers earn about $43,000 in salary and accrue an additional $23,000-$30,000 in benefits.
Christner said last week that she hopes to come up with some funding or cost savings alternatives or at least convince the city administration to let them stay in the building until it is sold.
“I firmly believe we have to invest in our kids,” she said. “We’re rebuilding live. We’re not just punishing them for what they did wrong. Were working with their families, trying to look at the big picture to see how we can help. It takes time and it takes staff,” she added.
Large ticket items for the city include a new 124-foot ladder truck, which was approved last year and will be received in July.
The city will also take on some projects through the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), as well. The DDA has an estimated budget of about $5.8 million this year. Of that, $4.6 million will be transferred to the general fund. That’s less than last year, when the DDA used $800,000 to fund the second half of the Michigan Avenue reconstruction project. That $7 million project required a $1.3 million local match, which was split between two budget years. Cities throughout Michigan have relied increasingly on their DDA budgets to fund some of their services.
Peter McInerney, community development director for the City of Wayne, said all of the DDA projects had yet to be decided. The city will schedule a public hearing on the DDA budget in early June and incorporate that into the city budget.
“We haven’t finalized it yet,” he said.
The $1.2 million remaining has some dedicated uses already. About $400,000 of that will go to pay off the fire station. Another $200,000 will be set aside for the demolition of the Historic Wayne Theater.
The city will also develop a new master plan for the downtown area, which will be funded through the DDA, as well. McInerney said he’s developing a request for proposals from qualified planning consultants in preparation of that process.
“Obviously it’s not going to happen until the city council says it will happen and it won’t happen until the budget goes into effect in July,” he said.
Hadious said the budget represented a lot of team work from every department.
“I’m so proud of the way we are handling things,” he said.
