MAYOR DAVLIN ANNOUNCES PLAN TO BALANCE CITY BUDGET

Mayor Tim Davlin today announced that he has reached agreements with the Police and Fire unions which will result in a plan that could bring the municipal budget into balance, in light of unexpected expense increases and revenue decreases.

The city was facing additional costs of some $7 million, which is attributed to a number of issues including an anticipated $3.3 million decrease in state revenue. Because of those challenges, changes to city spending are being made to further trim city expenses.

“Before I even began to ask union representatives to consider changes, I made some $3.2 million cuts of my own," Davlin said. "Those include a de facto hiring freeze by not filling a significant number of positions, and postponing the hiring of critical positions and trimming a number of line items by delaying major purchases of vehicles, computers and other commodities.”

“That leaves the budget out of balance by $3.8 million. To eliminate this deficit I am going to propose that the City Council redirect $1.2 million in hotel motel tax receipts that had been set aside for infrastructure improvements. I will also ask the council to approve redirecting $500,000 in Fund 94 equipment monies. And, I will ask that the council approve a short term loan of $1.5 million.”

“That leaves a difference of $600,000. I am proposing to divide that equally across all city departments, which will result in everyone, union and non-union employees, taking three (3) furlough days, instead of the eight (8) that had already announced.”