Sluggish tax revenues at Cincinnati City Hall could lead to furloughs or layoffs among the city’s 6,000 employees.
Those harsh measures are being discussed with City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. because receipts are off $7.7 million through the first four months of 2009.
If that trend continues unchecked, the gap between revenues and expenses could be $14 million by the end of this year and $40 million at the end of 2010.
Dohoney has told department heads to give him a report by Friday on how service delivery would be impacted with a five percent cut in their budget.
He says that’s a worst case scenario at this time because he’s due to get new revenue projections that same day.
Cincinnati City Council member Laketa Cole, who chairs the Finance Committee, says it’s too early to be discussing layoffs – especially in the critical areas of fire and police protection plus health and recreation centers.
"Those are sacred cows," she said during an impromptu meeting with reporters Wednesday in Bond Hill.
The city’s 4.5 mill property tax rollback has also been untouched in recent budget cuts, but both Dohoney and Cole acknowledge that it’s on the table for discussion as well.
Doing away with that measure would mean higher property taxes for city residents.
"I would not want to do that, but I think that’s another place we could look at," said Cole.
Dohoney says the city isn’t sitting back and waiting for the economy to improve.
Instead, he says new ways of generating revenue are being discussed. Among them is the plan that would turn the Cincinnati Water Works into an independent water district.
"The reason we looked at that is because it would generate revenue for the city," Dohoney said. "There’s no secret that the streetcar is a job generator and it would bring investment at a time when we need it."
A consultant has told the city it needs to add $200 million a year to the pension fund in each of the next five years.
However, Dohoney says the city can’t afford that expense at the present time.
