Mayor Tom Barrett will propose budget cuts of 15% to 20% in order to deal with debt service, levy limits and employee benefit costs, according to City Budget Director Mark Nicolini.
“All of you are aware that the city has been dealing with an ongoing imbalance between the costs of continuing service levels from year-to-year and the revenue growth available to fund those costs,” Nicolini wrote in a letter outlining preliminary budget instructions. “I am sorry to inform you that the imbalance has now reached a point where ‘managed decline’ is no longer a viable budget option.”
Barrett already is warning that the city may lose as many as 1,400 jobs over the next two years.
Nicolini said there are many financial stress factors that “include the cumulative impacts of changes in state shared revenue policy and the impact of the economy on the property tax base and other non-property tax local revenues.”
Health care and retirement cost trends, which have been favorable in recent years, “have taken a decided turn for the worse,” Nicolini wrote. “Final projections about these costs will not be available until late summer, but it is clear that the only sustainable means of addressing these cost increases is a substantial reduction to the number of city employees.”
Nicolini’s letter was provided to Milwaukee Rising by Ald. Michael Murphy, chairman of the Common Council’s Finance and Personnel Committee.
For 2010, department heads should propose budgets that will only continue — and not improve — 2009 service levels and should not expect to see even those budget requests granted, he said.
“This approach to budget requests is not a blank check to request increased funding, nor should any department expect that the proposed budget will include the amount needed to continue services at their current level,” Nicolini wrote. “The city faces significant fiscal challenges. The Proposed Executive Budget will include budget reductions of between 15%-20% relative to the baseline in order to pay for non-discretionary fringe benefit cost increases and debt service within levy limits and available non-property tax revenues.”
Imagine that, Pols knocking each other out of the way to fight for Stimulus money, borrowed from our Children and grand children, to build roads to nowhere. While at the same time identifying 1200-1400 Family supporting “Shovel ready” Jobs in the City, Get a Shovel, dig a hole, and bury the Jobs, problem solved. Even with the Mayor’s usual tranparent rhetoric, propose cutting twice as much as He wants, and work back from there, it’s a eye popping number. Let’s all hope this Economy starts to get better sooner rather than latter.