By MATT McMKILLIP
Guest columnist
December 16, 2007 06:07 pm
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In the last few days, articles have been written about city finances and hiring practices. The inaccurate comments they contain are creating unnecessary concern among the city’s hard-working employees and within our community.
Thanks to our employees, the city’s financial position right now is, and for the last three years has been, secure. However, city expenses, mainly related to contractually mandated salary increases and health-care cost increases, are growing at a rate much faster than city revenue. This gap does present financial problems a few years out, and for four years we have presented this problem to the public and council.
To offset and prepare for these rising costs, we have proposed budget reductions, new revenue streams and efficiency improvements like direct deposit, ambulance billing, competitive bidding, and parking fine increases to help solve the problem. Most of our cost-cutting measures have been fought by the city council, which has made it more difficult to fix the long-term gap. The sooner small corrective steps are taken, the bigger impact they will have in the difficult out years. For example, the council added $1.5 million to the budget submitted.
As mayor I am sworn to serve our community until noon on Jan. 1, 2008. Not filling city positions since May of 2007 would have put you, our public, at risk. This, combined with training lead times, is why vacated positions, mainly in the police and fire departments, have been filled. The council, which included the mayor-elect, has approved the budget for every single position filled. Furthermore, financial projections by Umbaugh, which has served the city for over 25 years, included and includes every position my administration has filled.
Although a long-term problem needs to be solved, at this time I see no reason to talk about financial crises, terminations or layoffs. Without a doubt, the mayor-elect will need to continue to cut costs, and much of what will be achieved or not will be based on how successful the mayor-elect is in contract negotiations and in getting the council to collaborate.
Contrary to reports, I have not issued any last-minute operating procedures or evaluation forms, and the updated personnel policy booklet is not a last-minute project. That was a four-year project that both inside and outside legal counsel have been reviewing for the last two years. It is the first update to city personnel policies since 1994. Many of the updates were needed to comply with the new laws.
I have met and talked with the mayor-elect on several occasions. He never raised any concern with actions my team has taken nor has he asked me to do or not do anything specific until I finish my term. My team is leaving the mayor-elect with city finances that are much improved and with cash reserves restored. Now his team will need to build on what we started and be successful in reducing contractually mandated expenses.
I am hopeful that with the cost-saving ideas of our residents and employees, as well as the implementation of all the recommendations of the Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform, the gap between income and revenue can be avoided and that much-needed relief will be provided to our taxpayers.
Matt McKillip is mayor of Kokomo.
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