Mayor Phelps addresses the budget

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 1:11pm — Diane Dyer

"I want all of you to take a look at this chart. The entire pie is what it takes to run the city any given year. The last few years we’ve actually spent more that the revenue we’ve taken in. So using that information imagine all the services we were able to complete by using those funds be it mowing, administrative staff, sidewalks, etc. Now take a look at the red section. That red section is Kentucky Copper, a total loss of approximately $450,000. That red section is how much we had to cut out to be able to function. That red section is all the services, sidewalks, jobs, employee benefits, and essential business that we have to give up in order to avoid going bankrupt.

When Kendall Embry, CPA, and I sat down to go over this year’s budget, we were dumbfounded. How do you take out over a quarter of your budget with the expectation to continue on as before? The simple answer is that you can’t, it is impossible to provide the same amount of services.
So our next task was finding areas in which we could cut while still maintaining function as a city. Every cut we made comes with a consequence.
City Hall will have nothing budgeted for additional equipment. If a computer, printer, etc. breaks, then it will not be replaced. Training for employees will cease to the bare minimum.
The police department will be allotted less funds for fuel, which translates to less patrolling. The department will also take a cut in travel expenses and training by one-third. Officers must have certain hours of training every year; it will be a challenge for us to be able to meet that criteria this year with lower funds.
The street department will take a large hit in the coming year. There will be no sidewalk expenditures, meaning our half-finished job on Main Street will not be completed. No additional paving can be done. In addition, there will be less fuel used for mowing and street work.
Unfortunately, the last category was the hardest to consider: the employees. We, here at the city, have a hardworking dedicated crew, be it the office staff, street or police department. Due to these cuts, however, they too feel the effects of this situation.
Starting in July there will be no pay raises for employees. Insurance will not cover spouses of employees who are offered benefits through their own employer. Employees covering dependents will pay a monthly premium to continue using the city insurance.
There will be no overtime for employees, and you may think, that’s not such a big deal as a lot of employers don’t allow overtime. But for the city that’s different. When there is a snow storm, the street department must use overtime. When the police attend a trial, they must use overtime. So what does this mean for the city? It means that there will be times when the employees will not be at work at their regular times. No employee will be authorized to exceed forty hours per week. So, if for example, they have to work a snow storm or go to trial or training, they cannot return to work until those extra hours have been accounted for. All this translates to open slots without office staff, or the street department, or times when chief must cover for other officers.
Our street cleaner, who has worked for the city for many years, will be dropped from part-time status to just four hours per week. The jail crew, which has helped the city tremendously, can only be funded until September of this year, losing a total of six positions. This will cause the streetd department to go from a crew of nine to just three. This means that during the summer, the street crew will only be able to accomplish mowing. Brush pickups and other duties will be pushed on the backburner until time, if any can be made.
The pool lost a third of its typical amount of employees this year, equaling ten positions lost. All of this equals a total loss of around 17 positions or job roles as we know them.
Essentially, everything is getting cut; every department and employee will feel the effects of these cuts. Another perspective to consider is our carryover amount, or what we have left over for the new year. Just two years ago it was $110,000 for the general fund. This year it is $5,700, a decrease of 95%. This report may sound full of doom and gloom but I feel that it is important to convey the reality of what we face this year.
However, if we were to sell the Kentucky Copper building this year all of this would go away, but it all depends on our ability to let the building go. Saying that, it is clear that these cuts will have lasting effects on the city for many years to come."