Plenty of Ways to Trim Down Bloated Budget
By Lori Henry and Kent Igleheart
This year’s budget process began with Mayor Wood providing staff with parameters and general guidance. Staff then built a budget based on those parameters and guidance. He then presented his proposed millage rate and budget to Council for review, input, consideration, and ultimately adoption by Council.
We have proposed cuts to the Mayor’s budget that would result in a millage rate rollback. Concerns have been raised that any cuts to the proposed budget will result in a reduction of services to Roswell citizens or will only mean shifting those expenditures into the future.
We believe quality of life is the top priority in Roswell and are not suggesting cuts that would have a negative impact on our community. We strongly believe we can roll back the millage rate without diminishing services. This will reduce your tax burden and trim the fat out of a budget that left unbridled has the potential for obesity and the need for future tax increases or cuts in services that will truly reduce our quality of life.
Arguments suggesting a $2.1 million reduction will cut services don’t hold up to scrutiny. In fact, even with the proposed cuts, this budget adds nine police personnel, increases maintenance spending and includes over $2 million in new parks projects and over $5 million in transportation improvements. These elements will greatly enhance our community.
We believe a $117 million budget, which is nearly a 13 percent increase from last year, has some fat that could be cut while still providing the service level that the citizens of Roswell have come to expect.
This new, substantial increase raised a red flag as we considered Mayor Wood’s budget. The city received a windfall in revenues due to recent Fulton County reassessments. The response in the Mayor’s budget was to spend all of that. His budget funds 12 new positions (which would be a total of 27 new positions in the past two years). During this process we also learned that 27 existing positions are currently vacant, including several that have been open for over one year and one that has been open since 2004.
Mayor Wood has argued that the millage rate rollback only amounts to $48 savings for a $300,000 house. This is true. But the more important thing to recognize is that this budget includes a number of costs that increase exponentially over time. For example, there is a brand new 2 percent retirement contribution match and in two years there will be 12 percent annual increases in staff health insurance and 5 percent annual increases in pension costs. If all new and vacant positions are filled, they would bring those costs along with them. Under projections that include these elements, leaving the Mayor’s budget as it is would result in a deficit of $14.5 million over the next five years. This would require millage rate increases of over 2.7 mills just to stay even.
Clearly, revenues are not the only issue going forward – increasing expenditures must be brought under control and that must begin to happen now.
Now let’s factor in today’s economic climate. We all know the pinch of increasing costs. All levels of government are experiencing a reduction in revenues. Recognizing this reality, Gov. Perdue has asked state agencies to prepare to cut 3-5 percent of expenditures in the next two fiscal years.
Roswell families are cutting back. We are only proposing a similar approach for Roswell’s government. It is the responsibility of elected officials to look carefully and critically at all expenditures to see what savings and cutbacks can be implemented in every budget cycle. It is even more imperative in difficult economic times that we make tough choices about how we spend your tax dollars.
Some might suggest we should just continue to increase taxes in order to meet future needs. However, Roswell has always operated under very conservative financial principles. We suggest continuing to operate conservatively and believe the most prudent approach is to take a hard look at expenditures, particularly those that take on a life of their own and create exponential increases over time. How can we do otherwise?