Although they started months earlier than usual on their budget deliberations, the Unified Government commissioners are surrounded by mystery as they prepare to vote on the 2015 proposed budget on Thursday, July 31.
At the budget workshop Monday, July 28, commissioners discussed the administrator’s proposal, a zero mill levy increase for Kansas City, Kan., residents that raises the mill levy 2 mills in the county and lowers it 2 mills in the city; the chief financial officer’s recommendation, a budget that would raise the county 2 mills and keep the city flat, for a net increase of 2 mills in Kansas City, Kan.; and a compromise between the two.
A $295.8 million UG budget was proposed for 2015 by Administrator Doug Bach.
Commissioner Hal Walker told the other commissioners that the commission makes the decision alone.
“It’s up to us to decide what we want to do and that will be Thursday night, and that resolution and ordinance can be amended on the spot Thursday night if it has to be,” Walker said.
He also said he didn’t know yet how he would vote.
While the budget is subject to change Thursday night, Commissioner Mike Kane expressed the feeling that he did not want to come back again for another budget workshop.
“I guess we go with what the administrator offered us in the first place,” Kane said. “I think we went round and round and round and if we meet one more time we’re going to do the same thing, and the horse is still going to be dead.”
But he added he believes the commission should start earlier, in August, to start to review the budget for next year and solve problems.
Not all commissioners were indicating during the meeting how they will vote on Thursday.
Commissioner Brian McKiernan indicated that he was in favor of keeping the recommendations in the original budget submitted by the county administrator; would have liked to start the discussion earlier on other options; however he was still open to hearing about other options.
McKiernan also suggested trying to collect more of the back taxes the UG is owed, which is 7 percent of the budget.
Commissioner Angela Markley said she supported the original budget as presented.
Commissioner Jim Walters said he did not think it was too late to make budget decisions. He wanted to know if any additional funds would actually go to fund balances or just be consumed with spending. By cutting the city tax, it might make future decisions tougher, he added.
“I’m at OMG right now,” Commissioner Jane Winkler Philbrook said. “I agree with almost everybody here, and that’s the problem, is that we’re ripped from pillar to post trying to figure out what we’re going to do to keep our city working and try to take care of our people. And yes, I believe we’re probably going to have to make some tough decisions, and some of us may get run out of the city on a rail, but I do believe that eventually we are going to have to do something with our mills.”
She said two elephants in the room were that the Kansas City, Kan., Public Schools’ proposed mill levy went down 11 mills and Turner school district’s proposed levy went down 14 mills.
She said the commission needs to start early to talk about what it is going to do and be willing to take a political hit. For herself, she would be willing to keep the city at 2 mills and change it to 2 mills for the other, she said.
How are taxpayers affected? Two mills is a $23 increase annually for the budget on a $100,000 home, according to UG officials. The administrator’s proposed budget would mean no tax increase, while the CFO’s proposal would mean a 2 mill increase for a $100,000 home.
Earlier, Lew Levin, CFO, had presented a budget option with a flat rate for the city and an increase for the county in order to increase the UG’s fund balances. He told the commission that it is possible that the UG’s bond rating could be lowered if it doesn’t restore the fund balances. If the city mill rate were to remain the same, it would add $1.8 million that could be directed to the fund balances.
Mayor Holland said most of the counties in Kansas are considering raising the county mill levy this year because the state Legislature eliminated the mortgage registration fee, a significant source of income for counties. When added to other lost revenues from the state, Wyandotte County is looking at $10 million in lost revenue a year, he said. Wyandotte County also will be paying for a new emergency radio system that was approved earlier, according to the mayor.
As the UG looks at a budget that is flat or slightly higher, it is only one part of the property tax bill that taxpayers receive. Another large part of the bill is the school district tax. The Kansas City, Kan., school district has announced an 11-mill proposed decrease, while Turner also will have a double-digit decrease, according to UG officials. In Piper, the proposed school mill levy is almost flat, less than a mill decrease.
Budget amendment recommendations
Budget amendments presented by Bach included:
– Eliminating the fall 2014 survey to save $45,000;
– Adding two positions for the house arrest pretrial program for 2015, costing $140,000 and reducing the inmate cost by the same amount;
– Adding 10 youth employees and a summer work program, plus equipment, costing about $45,000 in 2015;
– Casino funding, previously a portion was dedicated for the YMCA operation, and $75,000 was unallocated for 2015. The savings from the $45,000 survey and $10,000 from this program will fund the youth program and the parks portion of the weed-cutting in 2015.
– A $1 million grant Friday to the Fire Department for self-contained breathing apparatus, including air tanks and masks. It has a 10 percent local match.
Eliminating the 2014 survey will increase the fund balance by $45,000 this year, he said.
Public safety funding discussion
The police chief, the fire chief and the sheriff did not, as requested by Mayor Holland last week, come up with $500,000 more from each department to cut.
Instead, they told the commission, in general, that their departments were short-staffed and lacked needed equipment. If they had to cut more, they would be cutting important services, they told the commission.
Police Chief Ellen Hanson said that she was very impressed by the quality of the police officers’ work in spite of the condition of the equipment and the lack of a well-funded training program.
The three departments had already made significant cuts when they were asked last week to cut more. Besides being short-staffed, the Police Department needs more equipment such as video cameras for the cars, tasers and cars, Hanson said.
She added that the department has managed to reduce overtime by 28 percent in spite of being 21 people down.
She compared being asked to cut more to a high-fashion model living on two carrots and a cup of yogurt who is asked to lose 20 more pounds.
Fire Chief John Paul Jones said some small savings might be found in fuel. Fuel costs were projected as more than they actually are, he said.
Overtime in the Fire Department this year has been reduced 51 percent over the previous year, and there may be more overtime savings in the future, he said. A class of recruits has graduated that will be able to solve the overtime situation.
Jones said the Fire Department’s capital purchases have been pushed back each year since 2007.
“We are currently 19 fire apparatus behind in our 10-year replacement program,” Jones said. The average age of front-line fire apparatus is 15.4 years, he said.
His good news was that the Fire Department was approved Friday for a $1 million grant from Homeland Security for self-contained breathing apparatus. That was added by Bach to the budget. The grant has a 10 percent match and UG officials said the savings to the fuel budget would go toward the matching portion.
However, the department is behind schedule in purchasing other equipment, such as heart monitors for EMS, he added.
He was asked to cut an additional $500,000, and in order to get near that figure, the department would have to do something he does not recommend — a reduction in services, he said.
“I don’t know how to say it in Latin, we’re between a rock and a hard place,” Jones said. “That’s where we find ourselves. “
Sheriff Don Ash said he is continuing to look at reducing overtime. Some additional staff will help to cut overtime, he said. He presented options for reducing expenses of the department earlier in the year at a budget workshop.
He discussed changing the length of 12-hour work shifts and labor negotiations as ways of finding more savings. A sufficient number of employees would allow the department to bring more farmout inmates back, retrofit the jail for double bunks and operate more efficiently, he said.
While public safety is the highest priority, Mayor Holland said he was “disappointed” about not finding more efficiencies.
“We’re at $130 million [in public safety] and there isn’t 1 percent to save,” he said. “If we continue on this trajectory of spending, the greatest danger is running out of money, and starting to make cuts willy-nilly.”
“We should look at this as a crisis,” Mayor Holland said. “The line has already formed for the 2017 payoff of the STAR bonds. We could spend all of that in 2017 and have nothing in 2018, and we will not do that. We have to find efficiencies for these departments.”
Some commissioners expressed a willingness to wait until a study of the public safety departments is completed to make changes.