Hanging their hat on half a million dollars savings through
renegotiated labor contracts, the Morgan Hill City Council reached
consensus on $2 million of the recommended $2.2 million in annual
cuts and preserved street lights and park grass
– for now.
Natalie Everett – Staff Writer
ne******@*************es.com
Morgan Hill
Hanging their hat on half a million dollars savings through renegotiated labor contracts, the Morgan Hill City Council reached consensus on $2 million of the recommended $2.2 million in annual cuts and preserved street lights and park grass – for now.
The council attempted to shave $2.2 million from its budget each year for the next five years, faced with declining revenues from sales and property taxes and development-related fees. In his five-year budget reduction strategy, City Manager Ed Tewes recommended 13 layoffs and maintaining the previously agreed-upon 25 percent of a year’s revenue in reserves by 2012-13.
Three true layoffs were approved during Wednesday night’s meeting, a Community Development Department administrative secretary, a Finance Department accounting assistant and a custodian for the Community and Cultural Center. Other labor changes included reduced hours and shifting one position into another, but retained most jobs.
The future of the Recreation and Community Services, Council Records and Services Management, Grounds and the Morgan Hill Police departments remains unclear. City staff, led by Tewes, will come back to the council with more options in these areas, as the council couldn’t reach consensus Wednesday night.
Jobs preserved for now include the environmental programs coordinator, a groundskeeper and maintenance worker and City Clerk Irma Torrez, who has not yet decided whether she will take early retirement.
A majority of the council – Mayor Steve Tate and Councilmen Larry Carr and Greg Sellers – were unwilling to reduce the environmental programs division to fulfilling mandates only. In the end, they directed staff to come up with a way to fund the program with half the money – $110,000 not $220,000 – while still pursuing grants to pay for the rest.
Recreation coordinators Karen Lengsfield and Phyllis Dieter and Recreation and Community Services Manager Julie Spier sat together as talk of consolidating their three positions into one or two began. They left the meeting at almost 11 p.m. shaken, but with jobs, at least through April.
“There’s still confusion about what all this means,” Lengsfield said. “It’s going to be interesting to see what the director (of the Recreation Department, Steve Rymer) comes up with.”
For now, the much discussed options of turning off most residential street lights, letting park grass die and removing two park playgrounds were deferred.
“I can’t support this,” Sellers said, adding that there’s a bigger underlying issue: why the two parks on the chopping block weren’t used much in the first place. City staff chose the two least used parks, Howard Wiechert and Sanchez parks, for playground removal and letting the grass die.
Staff will come back with more details, and possibly more options, in these areas.
As it stands, the council’s decisions save $2 million annually, beginning with the next fiscal year and would leave the city with almost 21 percent in reserves – about 4 percent less than the council’s budget sustainability goal of 25 percent of one year’s revenues in 2013.
If labor negotiations don’t produce any savings, the city will still save about $1.5 million yearly and have 17 percent reserves left in 2013.
If half of the council’s new goal, or $250,000, is saved through labor renegotiations, the council would save $1.7 million annually and have 20 percent reserves in 2013.
Sellers, Carr and Councilwoman Marilyn Librers kicked around the idea of ending the five years with a 15 percent reserve, considering the economy.
But Tate said he preferred keeping the hard-earned 25 percent reserve.
“There’s been a lot of political hay over what we’ve done financially,” he said. “I think we are better served by facing it and making decisions quickly.”
Councilwoman Marby Lee agreed.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said. “It’s prudent to do what we need to do now. We may not be at the worst now. I think we all know that.”
Council deferred decisions on cutting back in the Community Services and Records Management Department, with some council members concerned that mandatory deadlines, for elections and Freedom of Information Act responses, would be difficult to achieve with less staff.
