Englewood Herald > News
Sheridan battling red ink
By Tom Munds
About 200 residents attended Sheridan’s July 1 town meeting with the invitation to provide suggestions on how to deal with the city’s projected red-ink bottom line of about $437,000.
City Manager A.J. Kreiger told the audience a dramatic decline in sales and use taxes created the city’s financial woes for the remainder of 2009 and for all of 2010 when, he said, the city will have to reduce spending by an additional $1.5 million to $1.7 million.
The budget figures at the end of May showed sales tax collections are down about 22.5 percent and total revenues are down by almost 28 percent.
The city manager said steps are already in place to cut spending such as a hiring and wage freeze and reducing or eliminating plans to spend money in areas such as training and travel. However, even the reduction in spending produced by cuts already made and using the city’s reserves of about $280,000, the projection is the city will still be about $438,000 short of balancing the budget at the end of 2009. He added that the state law doesn’t permit deficit budgeting.
He suggested several options to cut spending this year and 2010 which included having another agency provide police and fire dispatch services, eliminating the city’s ambulance service, doing away with the fire department by joining a fire district and instituting mandatory unpaid furlough days for city employees.
The city manager said the options are only suggestions and the final decisions will be made by the city council.
He then asked residents for comments and suggestions
About a dozen residents voiced opinions and the majority of those who spoke at the town meeting objected strongly to elimination of city-provided fire, ambulance and dispatch services.
For example, John Russell said he understands the city is having budget problems but cutting the police and fire protection should be at the absolute bottom of the list of proposed budget cuts.
“I feel keeping the people safe is the No. 1 service a city must provide its people,” he said. “I think a city that doesn’t provide adequate police and fire services isn’t doing its job.”
This isn’t the first time Sheridan has faced a financial crisis. In 1993, Pace Warehouse, which provided almost $1 million in tax dollars to the city, closed with very little notice.
Don Smith was on the city council during that time. He told the crowd it was a very difficult and trying time that required the council to make unpopular decisions that included layoffs.
Smith, who has once again been elected to the council, said Sheridan has no choice but to make painful spending cuts.
“We have to cut spending and I expect it will involve laying off some city employees,” he said. “This isn’t something we want to do but I don’t see how it can be avoided.”
Near the end of the three-hour meeting, one resident urged the people of Sheridan to pull together to turn things around for the city. He said he’d like to see everyone shop in Sheridan and buy from Sheridan companies to keep the city strong and help generate more tax dollars for their community.
As Kreiger wrapped up the meeting, he told the residents that the budget will be a subject for the city council in every work session and every meeting to make decisions on how to cut 2009 spending and then will immediately begins to try to figure out how to balance the budget in 2010.
Sheridan Mayor Mary Carter said after the meeting that she felt the gathering was helpful.
“Most of the people who spoke tonight reinforced my own feelings that I definitely do not favor cutting safety services or contracting to have another agency provide those services,” she said. “I am asking for figures of the savings if every city department cut its budget by 10 percent. My idea is to ask department heads for suggested ways to make those cuts, reducing spending to the point where we balance our budget.”
City Manager A.J. Kreiger told the audience a dramatic decline in sales and use taxes created the city’s financial woes for the remainder of 2009 and for all of 2010 when, he said, the city will have to reduce spending by an additional $1.5 million to $1.7 million.
The budget figures at the end of May showed sales tax collections are down about 22.5 percent and total revenues are down by almost 28 percent.
The city manager said steps are already in place to cut spending such as a hiring and wage freeze and reducing or eliminating plans to spend money in areas such as training and travel. However, even the reduction in spending produced by cuts already made and using the city’s reserves of about $280,000, the projection is the city will still be about $438,000 short of balancing the budget at the end of 2009. He added that the state law doesn’t permit deficit budgeting.
He suggested several options to cut spending this year and 2010 which included having another agency provide police and fire dispatch services, eliminating the city’s ambulance service, doing away with the fire department by joining a fire district and instituting mandatory unpaid furlough days for city employees.
The city manager said the options are only suggestions and the final decisions will be made by the city council.
He then asked residents for comments and suggestions
About a dozen residents voiced opinions and the majority of those who spoke at the town meeting objected strongly to elimination of city-provided fire, ambulance and dispatch services.
For example, John Russell said he understands the city is having budget problems but cutting the police and fire protection should be at the absolute bottom of the list of proposed budget cuts.
“I feel keeping the people safe is the No. 1 service a city must provide its people,” he said. “I think a city that doesn’t provide adequate police and fire services isn’t doing its job.”
This isn’t the first time Sheridan has faced a financial crisis. In 1993, Pace Warehouse, which provided almost $1 million in tax dollars to the city, closed with very little notice.
Don Smith was on the city council during that time. He told the crowd it was a very difficult and trying time that required the council to make unpopular decisions that included layoffs.
Smith, who has once again been elected to the council, said Sheridan has no choice but to make painful spending cuts.
“We have to cut spending and I expect it will involve laying off some city employees,” he said. “This isn’t something we want to do but I don’t see how it can be avoided.”
Near the end of the three-hour meeting, one resident urged the people of Sheridan to pull together to turn things around for the city. He said he’d like to see everyone shop in Sheridan and buy from Sheridan companies to keep the city strong and help generate more tax dollars for their community.
As Kreiger wrapped up the meeting, he told the residents that the budget will be a subject for the city council in every work session and every meeting to make decisions on how to cut 2009 spending and then will immediately begins to try to figure out how to balance the budget in 2010.
Sheridan Mayor Mary Carter said after the meeting that she felt the gathering was helpful.
“Most of the people who spoke tonight reinforced my own feelings that I definitely do not favor cutting safety services or contracting to have another agency provide those services,” she said. “I am asking for figures of the savings if every city department cut its budget by 10 percent. My idea is to ask department heads for suggested ways to make those cuts, reducing spending to the point where we balance our budget.”
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