At yesterday’s Finance Control Board meeting in Springfield, Mayor Domenic Sarno (pictured left) shared information about which city departments will receive mid-year budget cuts in the wake of cuts at the state level. The previous day, he appeared before the City Council to share information, which amounted to no information at all, to the great frustration of some city councilors. City employees have been waiting anxiously to hear word.

City Councilor Bud Williams (pictured right), who recently announced a bid to run for mayor (hear audio from both Sarno and Williams on this subject from WHYN), issued a January 23 letter to Sarno and the control board complaining about a lack of communication to the city council. The letter demanded a hiring and wage freeze.

Lack of communication, Williams wrote, “is particularly disturbing given the fact that these potential ’09 cuts will have a tremendous impact on the FY ’10 budget and the fact that the budget and budget process is being returned to the City Council after the Control Board is abolished on 6/31/09.” Read the entire letter at the bottom of the post, followed by corrections to the letter as received from city council aide Bob Arieti.

According to a report in today’s Republican, the city department seeing the biggest percentage cut, at 15.7 percent, will be the new CitiStat department, which includes the new 311 Citizen Service Center. The cut amounts to about $100,000, which in dollars is less than cuts other departments are facing, but as a percentage of the whole department could represent half the four-person staff, unless the cuts are shifted somehow to operational or personnel costs for maintaining 311 services.

Given how little information has been made public about where cuts may occur, it’s anyone’s guess right now. For his part, Sarno has sounded defensive in media reports about his tough choices, and continues to mention how he is not raising the “white flag of surrender” (mentioned many places, including in a recent budget statement).

WHYN has audio following yesterday’s control board meeting, when reporters surrounded Sarno to ask him about cuts. ABC40 also has a video report following the meeting, below.

Mayor Sarno referred obliquely and with frustration to WHYN’s phone interview with former Mayor Michael Albano, who thinks more state budget cuts are likely to come this spring. In his own defense, Sarno said he is not cutting police or fire budgets, whereas Albano did; Sarno also continues to refer to how methodical he is in the whole process, and how hard he is working, including late nights at City Hall.

From the Republican article:

The current recommendations indicate the library system budget of $4.2 million will be cut by $455,000, or 10.76 percent, by June 30. Other departments, including Health and Human Services, Purchasing, and the Auditor’s Office, have no recommended cuts.

The Police Department is being cut by $919,000, but most of the savings - $813,981 - is realized by not filling 16 vacancies. The Fire Department is being cut by $489,000, but most is achieved by not filling 17 vacancies.

The Department of Public Works faces a 6.35 percent budget cut. The department will save $106,000 by not filling 10 vacancies, but still faces cutting $756,000, according to the recommendation. Director Allan R. Chwalek declined comment Tuesday.

The largest percentage cut of 15.7 percent is faced by the new CitiStat Department which gathers and analyzes data.

The city allocated $636,432 this year for CitiStat, which includes a director, a senior analyst, and two analysts. A July 2007 article in the Republican said the senior analyst position would range from $48,953 to $62,415, and another would range from $35,180 to $44,855. The department represents six percent of the budget for “general government” in Springfield, which also includes human resources (64 percent), the law department (21 percent), the board of elections (five percent), and the mayor’s office (four percent).

The city’s fiscal year 2009 budget document (PDF) initially hailed 311 as “the first point of contact” between citizens and the city, “ensuring that city government is increasingly effective and responsive in meeting citizen needs.”

In a presentation in March last year before the control board, ironically, CitiStat director Paul Foster said one of the key functions of CitiStat was to monitor municipal finances, examining how current spending matches up against the budget, and where there may be potential deficits.

The trouble is, CitiStat can’t predict the health of the economy, and can’t foresee when the governor might decide to make some mid-year budget cuts. If it had a crystal ball, it might be of much more value to the city.

The letter from Councilor Williams follows.

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January 23, 2009

Dear Mayor Sarno and Members of the Control Board:

We are extremely concerned of over the lack of action that you have failed to take relative to the City’s budget and finances.  Though we have not received any specific cuts in local aid for the remainder of fiscal ’09 and fiscal ’10, all indications are that local aid and the City’s finances will be drastically reduced.  Its imperative that action be taken now  !  !  !  !

Though you have publicly stated that the City Council will be involved in this years(FY ’10) departmental budget preparation meetings, you have not addressed the possible crisis for FY ’09 and has not communicated any significant information to the Council.  We have held several meetings with the your financial team and they have said that there are various financial plans in place for potential cuts in FY ’09 depending on the severity of the of the decreases in local aid.  However, this information has not been conveyed to the City Council and this is particularly disturbing given the fact that these potential ’09 cuts will have a tremendous impact on the FY ’10 budget and the fact that the budget and budget process is being returned to the City Council after the Control Board is abolished on 6/31/09.  Recently, it has been determined that a one of the reasons the School Departments deficit in their transportation account went unnoticed for so long was that there was a breakdown in communication.

Given these parameters we are demanding that you: 1.) Immediately implement a hiring freeze, with the only exceptions being police officers and firefighters and essential public safety employees.  2.) Freeze all wages  regardless of contractual agreements.  3.)  Cease the signing, preparation  and implementation of all contracts and consultants until the City has established its financial limitations for FY ’09 and FY’10.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at xxx-xxxx.

Thank you for your time and cooperation.

Sincerely,
[Signed]
Bud L. Williams
City Councilor

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January 26, 2009

To Whom It May Concern:

Please be advised that there should have been some corrections made to the letter you received from Councilor Williams regarding his budget concerns that was emailed to you on Friday, January 23, 2009 at 4:43 pm.

The corrections are as follows:

1st paragraph
1st sentence: The first two words were “We are” they should have been “I am”
2nd sentence: “we have not” should have been “Though the City Council has”

2nd paragraph
1st sentence: …..”you have not addressed the possible crisis for FY ’09 and has not communicated”…..the word “has” should be changed to “have”
2nd sentence: “We have” should have been “The City Council has”

3rd paragraph
1st sentence: 4th and 5th words in that sentence are: “we are” should have been “I am”

Please be advised that at the time the letter was being written a 2nd Councilor was
considering “signing on” to the letter, but at the last minute he withdrew his consideration, henceforth the “we” and “I” changes.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at 413-787-6170.

Thanks you.

Bob Arieti
City Council Aide

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 at 10:25 am and is filed under City Council, Events, Finance, Finance Control Board, Media, Public safety, Springfield, Urban Compass, Urban policy.