A neighbor recently shared with me a time a few years ago where the Village, facing a Budget crisis, looked to the Citizens for help. Not their pocketbooks, but their ideas! What a fantastic idea. I bet our Citizens and especially our Village Employees have TONS of cost saving ideas that would add up to a signficant portion of the $400K shortfall we're predicting in 2011. Those ideas confirm where we're willing to pinch, and where we're not.
While a Tax Levy may indeed be required, we owe it to ourselves to turn over every rock and reduce that amount! Here's my idea. This blog allows comments. I'd like to use this posting as a collection of all those ideas. If you'll input ideas, I'll commit to presenting them to Council.
To kick us off, here are some ideas. Please reply/comment and share your ideas. Name is appreciated but not required. The more detail the better. I'll take these ideas to Council sometime in Sep/Oct.
We can close a huge chunk of this gap!!!!
Cortney
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Cost Saving Idea: Mariemont Tax Office spends over $1000 each month in rent. Negotiate a better rate or move to a new building. The Old Town Square has store fronts for $500 per month. Assume $100 for utilities (unverified), and thats $400 x 12mo = nearly $5000 savings each year! Further, lock in a 10 year lease at a low rent, taking advantage of this touch economic time.
ReplyDeleteVillage Council Members are paid $1000 per year. What if we made it $500 per year. Obviously, no one likes to give up income, but Council does it to serve the Village, not for the paycheck. Times are tough and we need to make real, tough choices. Let's return $500 x 6 Councilmembers = $3000 savings each year.
ReplyDeleteCars fly down Miami Road, Wooster Pike, Plainville Road, etc. It's a real safety issue. We should issue more citations, not for 3 or 4 miles over the posted speed limit, but for significant speeding. We don't want to be known as a speedtrap (that's Fairfax' job :), but let's enforce the laws on the books.
ReplyDeleteLet's increase the cost of garbage stickers. I hate increasing taxes, but this really is a voluntary increase. Charge $1.50 vs today's $1.00 per effective 6 months from now. This gives everyone time to buy as many as they want at old pricing. Then encourage recycling and composting (maybe even have Civic Garden Club come and teach a class!!). Less trash, less stickers, less cost. And if you want to throw away like it's 1974, you're free to do so. And we'll take that income right to the bottom line. Again, no idea is a perfect, but we're in tough times, and something has to be done.
ReplyDeleteLet's dump the paper. It's money we don't need to spend. Mayor's Bulletins are Tweets (Twitter) or emails. Council's Meeting packets are electronic only.
ReplyDeleteCortney
In the Depression, Village employees had to endure a 10% pay cut. The continued loyalty of our hard working employees is vital for our Village to run well, but we should revisit a +2% pay increase during these dark financial times. If 80% of our budget comes from Salary/Benefits, then +1%, +0.5%, +0% options would really move the needle. I think we all need to tighten our belts.
ReplyDeleteCortney
Cortney posting from an email reply part 1:
ReplyDelete1. The budget crunch is in the General Fund, and not in the Permanent Improvement Fund. We have enough reserves to cover most expenses we might expect for Capital Items in the next few years, not including anything major such as a new Fire Truck or major (needed) improvements to the Administration building. There will be pressure on the Permanent Improvement Fund over the next 4 years or so, as we will need to spend at least $150,000 to remove and replace the Village owned Ash trees that are beginning to die as the infestation of the Emerald Ash Borer quickly spreads throughout the region. An estimated 22 of the approximately 160 village owned Ash trees will need to be removed this October alone. However, prudent spending on other capital budget items will make this increased expenditure of $40,000 to $50,000 per year over the next 3 or 4 years possible.
2. Therefore, the General Fund is what needs scrutiny.
3. There are three ways to improve the cash flow and year end balanced of the general fund:
a. Pass a levy
b. Decrease spending
c. Decrease the amount of local income tax credit allowed for residents who work outside of Mariemont (currently 1%).
Cortney posting from an email reply part 2:
ReplyDelete4. In my opinion, Council should have done all three of these, thereby reducing the size of the levy on this November's ballot, and increasing the chances of it passing in these tough economic times.
5. Decreasing spending from the General Fund. Something more than 75% of expenditures from the General Fund is salaries and benefits. Therefore, any significant reduction in spending from this fund will involve reducing the number of Village employees, and likely decrease services to the Village residents in some ways. Departments include:
a. Police Department
b. Fire Department
c. Maintenance Department
d. Building Department
e. Tax department
f. General Administration
The Police department has not replaced a senior officer who retired, saving approximately $80,000 per year in salary and benefits. They have also quietly eliminated one crossing guard position, and reduced the number of paid hours of the remaining four crossing guards, saving an additional estimated $10,000 per year. We should not expect more cuts in this department.
We should consult Chief Phifer to see what reductions in the number of fire personnel are reasonable and possible. It may be that reducing the number of full time fire department employees and increasing the number of part-time fire department employees would accomplish some savings. If not, he must consider which days/shifts can tolerate a reduction in the number of people in the building on duty, and the savings from such reduction.
Maintenance currently has a new employee who is on extended probation (whom the Mayor will not let the Supervisor fire). This position should be eliminated, probably saving $50,000 per year in salary and benefits.
The building commissioner has already reduced his hours and therefore his salary.
The tax department has no room to decrease the number of personnel. However, they currently occupy an expensive office in the Mariemont Executive Building. Cheaper office space should be sought for this department.
General Administration similarly would have trouble reducing he number of employees, although it is possible that total employee hours could be reduced somewhat.
Total reduction from changes listed above might come to at least $200,000 per year.
6. The Tax administrator previously supplied Council with the estimated increased income tax dollar amount that would result from a 1/4% or 1/2% reduction in the allowed credit for taxes paid to another local jurisdiction. I do not have those numbers. It should be noted, however, that the Tax administrator has estimated that there will be reduced income tax revenues for FY 2009 in the order of $100,000 less than expected and budgeted, due to the economic downturn.. A reduction in credit allowed should clearly already have been decided upon by Council. Another option is to increase the income tax rate. Note that the income tax rates in nearby communities is: Cincinnati 2.1%, Fairfax 1.75%, Madeira 1% ,Silverton 1.25%, Blue Ash 1.25%, Newtown, 1%, Anderson Township 0% [townships cannot levy an income tax by law], Montgomery 1%, Indian Hill 0.4%, Norwood 2%.
7. Finally, the Village should look into combining the Maintenance Department with that of Fairfax. Our Maintenance department is essentially in the middle of Fairfax already. Presumably there could be some reduction in the number of personnel working in the combined department. There is likely much duplication between the two departments in expensive equipment, and, as some equipment is retired it would not need to be replaced.
Any money given used to subsidize the pool should be eliminated. Williams Meadows residents should be allowed to join but, regardless, the pool should cover it's own costs.
ReplyDeleteThe cameras that monitor traffic lights and issue tickets should be installed....need less police AND get more revenue from tickets.
Can Fire department take on other responsibilities during down-time....it kills me to see them hanging out killing time.
How much money does Terrace Park raise through their pancake breakfast...or is it a dinner?...regardless, they raise money.
I need clarification before I can make a suggestion - am I correct in understanding that we tax earned income, but not income generated from investments, etc.?
ReplyDeleteHave we benchmarked / can we benchmark our staffing and compensation in each department against other similar towns?
ReplyDeleteTypically that info is essential to organizations looking to restructure, "right size", create a strategic plan, etc.
Could we create (additional) incentives for more businesses to come to Mariemont so that we have more tax revenue? Specifically, the key space in between the movie theater and Graeter's, as well as the spaces by The Snooty Fox.
ReplyDeleteI understand that Spinneweber owns and controls the space between the theater and Graeters - does anyone understand whether/how much control the village has over decisions by Spinnenweber? I think the Promenade (Snooty Fox) is in Plainville. Along those lines, I understand Village Council considered commercial development along the block across from Marielders, but decided against it because that would entail additional surface parking, which seems to make sense.
ReplyDeletefrom Citizen published by Cortney:
ReplyDeleteI wonder if any municipality has policemen and firemen cross trained for both jobs? Since firemen spend so much time waiting for emergencies, such a fires and medical emergencies, to happen, perhaps having one fewer firemen on duty for selected shifts, with one policeman for that shift cross trained as a fireman, would save on costs.
posted by Cortney from a resident:
ReplyDeletevillage should reduce the earnings tax credit by !/4 of a percent. I'd like your reaction to that, as obviously you would be affected. When it comes time to replace the police chief's car-does he really need that fancy SUV in a village one square mile in area? If the mayor authorizes spending beyond what is set i.e. blacktopping a parking lot over the PW Comm.'s stated monetary outlay, he should have to reimburse the village. How about the mayor and council donating their salaries until the crisis passes? A resident at one time suggested all residents be charged an ark tax to go for trees, upkeep of parks, etc. Good idea. We really need a village administrator: Jenny Kamineris is said to save Fairfax bundles
Could we also consider taxing non-earnings? I'm not tax expert, but notice that we collect taxes (by reducing the earnings tax credit) on earned wages. I don't think we tax income from investements. My interest is in being fair: its seems that if a resident works a typical job for 40+ hours a week, they are taxed; if a resident lives off investment income, they are not taxed.
ReplyDeleteCan we generate income by renting space (e.g., parks, pavillions, etc. for events and gatherings)?
ReplyDeleteFrom Sara Zack, published by Cortney
ReplyDeleteTake garbage stickers up to $2 as a revenue generator. Those that don't want the "tax increase" can compost and/or recycle.
Right on!!
Why are we giving pay increases to village employees when many village residents have had their pay cut during this recession and many more have had a wage freeze this year. We should not be giving pay increases (and then asking for a new tax levy) when tax revenue has declined due to resident pay decreases/freezes and job losses.
ReplyDeleteWe should also do a better job getting more competitive bids for work in the village. It always seems like we are paying ridiculously high prices for the work(tree removal, construction, road repair, etc.) we are having done in the village. Village residents must get multiple bids to find a service provider they can afford given their individual budgets. The village should do the same when spending tax payers' money!