City Council and administrators took several steps toward a balanced budget Tuesday but not without some disagreements among officials.
Councilman and committee chair Steve Rippeth kicked off a special finance committee meeting by thanking department heads and superintendents for their hard work, telling them he did not envy them.
“I do respect and appreciate all the hard work you’ve put in to get us to where we need to be and I think we’re getting very, very close to that number,” Rippeth said.
Then for over an hour, officials discussed the costs of rent, office supplies, salaries, safety forces staffing, pool fees, vehicles and more.
One item of contention involved which departments get new vehicles.
Service Director Ron McAbier asked why the city is buying a police cruiser and not a bucket truck and striper, which he says the general services department needs desperately.
“Who arbitrarily made the decision that you buy a hammer instead of a screwdriver?” he asked. “Who made that decision to say ‘Ray (General services superintendent Ray Grewell), sorry you don’t get this and that, because we get this.’ Who made that decision on the cruiser?”
Rippeth said the committee isn’t playing favorites, and officials were looking into funding service department vehicles.
Mayor Joel Day and Councilwoman Cheryl Ramos talked over each other when she asked for a list of service department needs and the mayor suggested she go to general services office to see for herself.
Grewell said his department can only make small fixes to big problems for so long. Rippeth agreed.
“It’s putting a band-aid on a severed arm, Ray,” Rippeth said. “It’s not going to work.”
Meanwhile, the police and fire chiefs said they have a combined seven open positions and will fill only three or four of those to save money.
The finance committee will meet again at 6:30 Monday prior to the city Council meeting. The budget needs finalized by the end of the month. Rippeth asked the auditor to have a final budget for review by Thursday.
Some New Philadelphia officials are not pleased with the city’s budget planning process.
Councilman Kris Kreinbihl and others said the city is cutting it too close to a March 31st deadline. He said that can’t happen again.
“I won’t be here if we’re doing it again in March. I’ll be stepping down. I can let someone else do it, I’ll tell you that right now. I’m not doing this again. That’s for sure,” he said.
Kreinbihl and others said the mayor and other administrators should get to work in April on planning for next year’s budget.
“We continue to pass things down to the next year and the next year and the next year, and we’re never going to be able to get caught up,” Kreinbihl said. “I’ve asked the mayor. I had a conversation with him recently that starting in April we really, really need to dig in. I asked him to do that and he said he would, and we will continue to work toward that, but this is not sustainable.”
“Systemic change has to happen,” Rippeth said.
Auditor Heather Denham said with raises scheduled for next year, officials must look at more operation cuts.
“2027 is additional raises for everyone, so your operating is going to go down again for next year unless you find revenue,” she said.
“Or we make cuts,” Kreinbihl said. “That’s the other option. Find revenue or make cuts. That’s how it works.”
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