2010-06-07 Regular City Council session

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Wayne Munkel, 7543 Gannon Mr. Munkel talked about the fire department budget. He asked why there was no vacation or sick time in the budget for the department and Ms. Watson noted that the budget included full salaries, which included them. Secondly he said he worked in health care for twenty plus years and has never seen the price go down. Mr. Munkel noted that in the budget plan, medical supplies decreased by a couple of thousand and wonder why the City could not use the block grant as under public services, it can be used for health care. He asked about the purchasing of fire pumpers. Ms. Watson said the City Council included the purchase of one pumper in FY 10 as there was $350,000 set aside for fire equipment. She said the ambulance is scheduled in FY 11 and the second pumper is scheduled for FY 12. Elsie Glickert, 6712 Etzel Ms. Glickert said her theme about the budget was to economize. She said all salaries and steps should be frozen at last year’s level as they presently are very equitable. Ms. Glickert said titles should be changed to where they were two years ago, as the police department has lieutenants that were previously called sergeants. She said lieutenants are not out on the street and sergeants are. Ms. Glickert said the same is true of battalion chiefs. She said to consider a department of Public Safety with one administrator over the fire and police department, and noted the fire chief does not live in University City. Ms. Glickert also talked of the ½ cents sales tax which should yield one million dollars and could not understand the closing of Heman Park pool August 15 or the closing of the Natatorium. She also stated that the City could save $10,000 by furnishing carts instead of dumpsters which only accumulated everyone else’s trash. She said that if there were not alleys that could not accommodate the trash truck, it could be outsourced. Lastly she talked about the $70,000 it is costing the City for emergency dispatching which was not needed. Paulette Carr, 7901 Gannon Ms. Carr asked if it was wise in this economy to take 1.2 million dollars from the reserve funds. She said that two ballot issues for tax increases failed with the City spending $80,000 to put on the ballot and reminded Council that the first was defeated by 63% and the referendum was defeated by 3 percentage points with Ward 3 in particular having the greatest margin against passage. Ms. Carr stated that if the City froze expenditures at the FY 10 level, the budget would be balanced, as the increase if the gross receipts tax from the increase in electric would be greater, thus equaling the estimated expenditures for FY 2010. Secondly she provided two charts of a Pay Survey completed in April 2009 comparing salaries of the City with surrounding areas showing that the City is very competitive Ms. Carr also noted that in comparing the City’s employees salary ranges from 2001 to 2010 the data showed the employees’ salaries exceeded the Consumer Price Index for that period of time by at least 1.4%. She gave examples of companies and unions cutting/freezing pay or benefits. Ms. Watson wanted to make it clear that the City employees did not receive a cost of living raise last year nor or they to receive one in FY 11. Tamara Donohoe, 7205 Dorset Ave. Ms. Donohoe said that she agrees with Ms. Carr and expenditures should be frozen at FY 10 level and not use the City’s reserves. She also called attention to a budget line item for hardware and hand tools with a budget of $113,248 and for the last three years it has been over $100,000 and wanted to know how much hardware and hand tools are needed each year as they should last from one year to the next. Ms. Donohoe asked as to how much is spent on 3