The City of Cincinnati may have to lay off hundreds of firefighters and police officers, furlough employees and cut services to balance the 2009 budget.
That was the one of the messages delivered Monday by City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr., to members of Cincinnati city council’s Finance Committee.
Dohoney said there’s a $20 million gap between revenue projections and actual income.
"The income tax fund is down $15.4 million," Dohoney told committee members. "We also have the admissions tax revenue, the investment income and estate taxes. All of those are underperforming at the moment."
So, the city manager offered two proposals – Plan A and Plan B.
"The distinction between the two of them is that Plan A does not contain massive layoffs. Plan B does," Dohoney stated.
Plan A uses one-time funds, government grants, service reductions and furloughs to retain as many workers as possible.
Still, the plan includes:
- Laying off 47.85 full-time employees
- Cutting two recently added Basic Life Support Ambulances in the Cincinnati Fire Department
- Closing the Camp Washington and Carthage Recreation Centers
- Eliminating the weekly yard waste collection program
Plan B contains all of those elements, but makes deeper cuts in the employee ranks and services for citizen:
- Layoff 279.65 full time-employees, including 105 firefighters and 99 police officers
- Eliminate nine Cincinnati Fire Department engine companies
- Cut Police Visibility overtime
- Close the Mount Auburn Recreation Center
- Close 11 swimming pools and shorten the 2009 swimming season
- Reduce curbside recycling to two times per month
- Eliminate the littler control program
- Eliminate funding for Poison Control Program
- Eliminate funding for Every Child Succeeds nursing program
- Eliminate day care inspections
Dohoney added that if the economy doesn’t get into recovery mode, there could be more cuts proposed.
"When we submit our budget to you in November of this year for 2010, there will be a layoff plan attached," he said. "No one can accurately predict what’s going to happen the remainder of ’09 and should it go as has been predicted, we wouldn’t have the luxury of waiting until December 31 to get started."
Reaction from city council members was swift and indicative of a spirited debate on the plans in coming weeks.
Finance Committee chairperson Laketa Cole said she was upset over the proposed recreation cuts, since city council has made it clear in the past that that shouldn’t occur."Everybody should feel the cuts across the board," she added.
Roxanne Qualls wondered why there weren’t cuts suggested in the administration of the Cincinnati Police Department – a $100 million agency that consumes 37% of the city’s general fund budget.
"You couldn’t find two-percent cost savings in administrative functions?," she asked the manager. "That would not be acceptable in any sector of this community – any corporate sector."
Jeff Berding continued to wonder how the city can meet its pension fund obligations, Greg Harris talked of a metro government for the area and Chris Bortz gave a brief overview on his work to see what services can be shared among various governments.
The first public hearing on the budget plans is this Tuesday night at 6:00 p.m. at the Dunham Recreation Center in Price Hill.
