If you had a chance to address the Columbia Heights City Council and bring forth you ideas to them, what budget cut ideas would you bring to the table?
To start you off here are 29 ideas from our own Donna Schmidt. Is there any ideas you would like to put on the table?
1. Renegotiate or take new bids for all contracts, such as phone, cell phone, internet, garbage, recycling, etc…
2. Do not approve any park and public improvements for the next year. (That should be a given, but I don’t want to assume anything.) We are ‘stuck’ with the projects that we currently have in progress but we will have to live with those.
3. Eliminate cell phone coverage for anyone other than police/fire. Look at possibly using 2-way radios wherever possible. Most jobs do not pay for cell phones for employees except when they are traveling. In those cases it is cheaper to pay for any usage over the limit on someone’s personal cell phone rather than purchasing a whole plan for one individual.
4. No donations of public funds to community groups no matter how “worthy” these groups may be. Employees, staff or elected officials, may still give personal gifts. Gifts-in-kind, such as waving fees for non-profits should be determined on a case-by-case basis and only allowed if the city is not running a deficit at the time of the request. Donations, by other community groups or individuals for these non-profits should be encouraged rather than a blanket fee waiving.
5. Look into reducing recycling pickup to 1 or 2 x’s per month rather than every week. The city has open recycling where people may drop off items every Saturday morning if they need to recycle more often.
6. No taking home of city owned vehicles by city employees. Exception would be fire/police who are on call.
7. Do a cost analysis of farming out of equipment repair versus in-house repairs. Get bids so we can do a legitimate cost analysis. One city did this on the condition that the repair shop would hire current city employees first. Those employees were paid at the shops price, not the current city’s price.
8. Encourage public and business support in areas where the city has to make cuts. Encourage donations of flowers for city gardens. Encourage volunteer groups to continue watering public gardens. (Some of this is already done but wanted to make sure that it was continued.)
9. Just as different groups sign up to pickup garbage on public highways encourage schools, businesses, churches or community groups to take ownership of public parks. Allow these groups to get a sign at the park showing that they are responsible to help with picking up garbage around playground equipment, watering the flowers and keeping the grounds cleaned. Groups would need to commit to at least one year.
10. Work at removing some of the public owned land that we have purchased in the past few years from the books.
11. Eliminating the University Ave. Liquor store. Selling off the property.
The following six items are to help eliminate waste of paper:
12. Eliminate the copying of files for meetings for commission members. Make these available online and members could determine if they would want to print these out on their own.
13. Eliminate the copying of files for council members. Make these available online and members could determine if they would want to print these out on their own, at their own expense.
14. Eliminate the copying of emails for council members. They are all capable of getting and reading their own email.
15. Eliminating the mailing of notifications to commission or council members. They all should have email access.
16. Eliminate the copying of “green sheets” from the police department. All informational “green sheets” information should be made available online or emailed to council members and staff. Every council member has indicated they are all computer literate and if they have not brought in a computer to use at a council meeting they have referred to using one at different times.
17. The city has decided to print only black and white newsletters. The city should look at printing fewer and not mailing any of them. With the rise in postage in a few weeks it makes sense that we have fewer mailings. Make newsletters available in public places for people to pick-up or they can be viewed online. (Example of public places: churches, library, senior center, city offices, and public gym.) Many free magazines and newspapers work on this same principle. They seem to get the information out, why should the city be any different?
18. “Charge” or highly suggest an annual donation of $25 per person or $50 per family to help with library expenses. This is not uncommon. If you have ever been to the Como Zoo your admission is really a suggested donation, not a fee.
The following is an example from another library as to different levels of donations, if you want to go more extensive in your donations:
Friend - $25 - $50 - $75
Supporter - $100
Bibliophile - $250
Scholar - $500
Fellow - $1,000
Sponsor - $2,500
Conservator - $5,000
Benefactor - $7,500
Patron - $10,000
The following items are some suggestions for reducing salaries, benefits, and hours. They are not intended to be all enacted but are giving some different suggestions for helping to reduce the total budget. These would be some of the most controversial ones.
19. Reduce salaries of election judges. (At one time our election judges were some of the highest paid in the area.)
20. A 1% cut in salaries of anyone making less than $70,000 a year. A 1.5% cut in salary of anyone making more than that. (This would be in addition to the current pay raise that was eliminated at a previous council meeting.)
21. Limiting salary caps to 90% of the governor’s salary. Anything above that (bonuses, incentives) would have to be part of a package & taxed at a higher rate of income. (I don’t know if this is held to, as it should?)
22. If further positions are to be eliminated, the first ones that should be considered are those that were created in the past 5 years.
23. Reduce or eliminate benefits for part-time workers, especially city council members and the mayor. Half of our council is eligible for Medicare and the other half have full-time positions that should give them full-time benefits so why are we paying for health benefits for these people?
24. This would be a good time to renegotiate the pensions for elected officials. Half of our elected officials are old enough to draw on their pensions. Maybe we need to make an age limit as to when adding to a pension is put in place.
25. Look at shortening hours that the city offices are open. Which would mean a cut in hours for salaried workers. (Not the best idea but we may have to come to this.)
26. If it is not possible to shorten hours at this time, consider a 4-day work week with 4 – 10 hour days. That will cut down on heating and air conditioning of public spaces for 3 days a week.
27. Change the charter to make it acceptable for the city council & mayor to refuse a raise anytime there is a need for drastic budget cuts if they so desire on the year following an election. What constitutes ‘drastic’ budget cuts would still have to be determined. The loss of a pay raise from council members would not be enough to save a job of a staff person but it could be part of a solution. It should not be done in a ‘grandstanding’ fashion every year there is a pay raise but only done when there are severe budget cuts.
Some of these suggestions may need to be made at the charter level but now is the time to start looking at these so we are ready for more cuts further down the road.
Unlike the Federal government, we are a city; we cannot print more money when we run short. We cannot pretend any longer that this recession will not affect us. We need to be proactive and realistic in our approach. Nothing is going to be easy about this.
Cutting jobs is not the first thing we want to do in these tough times. We need to try and cut as many other items as possible before we start handing out pink slips. I believe the city council and staff feels the same way.
These are just some suggestions that I have come up with. I would have liked to be more exact in my suggestions but the city has neglected to put up the 2009 budget online. In looking for the 2009 budget I also noticed that they have neglected to put up the 2008 budget as well. Both are public records and both should have been available for viewing to the public for inspection. This needs to be corrected. Not putting these up online is irresponsible because it would be much more cost effective to offer these online rather than offering a hard copy to residents for inspection.
You have had an offer from a former city employee, Malcolm Watson, who had to deal with massive budget cuts in the past, to help with this current budget crisis, I hope that offer was taken and not just given lip service to.
From NRA Armed Citizen "A nurse was home with her sick children when a man knocked on the door. She'd never seen him before, so she quieted the children and didn't answer. Undeterred, the man circled the house and tried to kick in the kitchen door, prompting the nurse to hide her children in a bedroom closet and tell the oldest to dial 9-1-1. The terrified child placed the call, saying, "We are going to die today." But police say the nurse wasn't going to allow that to happen. She retrieved a .38-caliber revolver, peered down the hallway and saw the burglar standing in the living room. "I came at him and started firing," she recalls. The burglar fled the scene. Speaking to a reporter, the nurse urged other women to consider gun ownership and to take firearm-training classes. (The News Courier, Athens, AL, 11/20/08)" ************************************************************************** "Police say a would-be burglar is probably feeling pretty inept at his illicit trade. First, he was caught entering a bathroom window by the home's 70-year-old female occupant, so he fled the scene. Minutes later he attempted to burglarize a second home, this time entering the home of Richard and Phyllis Osborne. Mrs. Osborne heard a ruckus, but a quick investigation showed nothing amiss—that is, not until Mr. Osborne noticed the bedspread was out of place. A closer look revealed the suspect's knuckles poking out from beneath the bedspread. Mr. Osborne aimed his shotgun at the suspect, ordered him to come out and held him for police. "I wasn't scared, I was mad," Mr. Osborne said. "I was mad because he scared my wife." (Gaston Gazette, Gastonia, NC, 11/24/08)" For more Armed Citizen experiences click the link
The following sent to me from a constituent. This is a great way to get out and get involved if you are frustrated with politics.Come out and start getting to know the players and the rules. It is quite an experience. Hello, I think there might be a few individuals that may wish to speak at the upcoming forum. I hope we can bring alternate options, rather than just spend, spend, spend and tax, tax tax. I hope to attend the meeting 6:30 to 8:30 at Puerta Del Sol, 3800 Central Avenue. Please join me! LP Tuesday March 10, 2009 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Shoreview Library 4570 North Victoria, Shoreview MN Wednesday March 11, 2009 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Puerto Del Sol 3800 Central Ave NE Columbia Heights
From NRA Armed Citizen "A nurse was home with her sick children when a man knocked on the door. She'd never seen him before, so she quieted the children and didn't answer. Undeterred, the man circled the house and tried to kick in the kitchen door, prompting the nurse to hide her children in a bedroom closet and tell the oldest to dial 9-1-1. The terrified child placed the call, saying, "We are going to die today." But police say the nurse wasn't going to allow that to happen. She retrieved a .38-caliber revolver, peered down the hallway and saw the burglar standing in the living room. "I came at him and started firing," she recalls. The burglar fled the scene. Speaking to a reporter, the nurse urged other women to consider gun ownership and to take firearm-training classes. (The News Courier, Athens, AL, 11/20/08)" ************************************************************************** "Police say a would-be burglar is probably feeling pretty inept at his illicit trade. First, he was caught entering a bathroom window by the home's 70-year-old female occupant, so he fled the scene. Minutes later he attempted to burglarize a second home, this time entering the home of Richard and Phyllis Osborne. Mrs. Osborne heard a ruckus, but a quick investigation showed nothing amiss—that is, not until Mr. Osborne noticed the bedspread was out of place. A closer look revealed the suspect's knuckles poking out from beneath the bedspread. Mr. Osborne aimed his shotgun at the suspect, ordered him to come out and held him for police. "I wasn't scared, I was mad," Mr. Osborne said. "I was mad because he scared my wife." (Gaston Gazette, Gastonia, NC, 11/24/08)" For more Armed Citizen experiences click the link
Studies indicate that firearms are used over 2 million times a year for personal protection, and that the presence of a firearm, without a shot being fired, prevents crime in many instances. Shooting usually can be justified only where crime constitutes an immediate, imminent threat to life, limb, or, in some cases, property. Anyone is free to quote or reproduce these accounts. Send clippings to: ”The Armed Citizen,” 11250 Waples Mill Road, Fairfax, VA 22030-9400.
If you have a firsthand ”Armed Citizen” experience, call NRA-ILA PR/Communications at (703) 267-1193The following sent to me from a constituent. This is a great way to get out and get involved if you are frustrated with politics.Come out and start getting to know the players and the rules. It is quite an experience. Hello, I think there might be a few individuals that may wish to speak at the upcoming forum. I hope we can bring alternate options, rather than just spend, spend, spend and tax, tax tax. I hope to attend the meeting 6:30 to 8:30 at Puerta Del Sol, 3800 Central Avenue. Please join me! LP Tuesday March 10, 2009 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Shoreview Library 4570 North Victoria, Shoreview MN Wednesday March 11, 2009 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Puerto Del Sol 3800 Central Ave NE Columbia Heights
Powered by ScribeFire.
No comments:
Post a Comment