Roswell Reaches Compromise, Passes Budget
By John Fredericks and Jonathan Copsey / STAFF
A few hundred thousand here, a few hundred thousand there, and all of a sudden it adds up to real money. Your money, that is.
Roswell City Administrator Kay Love and her staff miraculously found $1,907,659 to cut from their originally proposed fiscal year 2008-2009 Roswell City budget. These expense reductions were forwarded to Roswell Councilman and finance liaison Kent Igleheart by the city’s chief executive after Igleheart demanded reductions from the first budget reading, which called for a 13 percent spending increase over last year.
Igleheart, a proponent of a property tax rollback this year, added, “Just because you have extra checks in your checkbook doesn’t mean you have to write them. We are finding more and more creative ways to spend whatever we have, whenever we have it.”
He proposed cutting the millage rate back to .202 mills, which would save Roswell property taxpayers just over $1 million. Igleheart said, “I would prefer to cut it back by the full $2.1 million, but this is my compromise position.”
In a specially called budget session of Mayor and Council one day before the July 1 deadline, Love said, “I recommended these cuts if we have to make them. She added, “We can live with these expense cuts [from the originally proposed budget].”
When questioned by Mayor Jere Wood if she endorsed the cuts, Love responded with an emphatic, “No.” She also voiced opposition to Igleheart’s millage rate rollback, “due to the uncertainty of the tax assessor’s final numbers. After all the appeals are in and resolved (residents can appeal their tax property base increase) we may only expect to bill about 85 percent of the preliminary tax digest.”
Igleheart recommended an additional $200,000 in expense reductions beyond Love’s to bring the budget increase down $2,100,604 from the original $13,000,000 in proposed expense increases. In addition, he made a motion to decrease the capital expense budget by $1,230,000, including whacking $250,000 from the Oak Street streetscape plan.
Community Development Director Kathleen Field, buttressed by Councilman David Tolleson, made an impassioned plea to keep the Oak Street money in the plan.
Igleheart Defends Cuts
Igleheart defended his spending decreases and said, “We are in a tough economic environment. It is not my intent to make expense reductions on the back of our employees. I have proposed an additional 1 percent merit pay increase, to 3 percent from 2 percent [in lieu of] the new match benefit.”
Igleheart has taken a public relations beating from Wood and city staff in the past several weeks in response to his objection of Wood’s newly proposed 2 percent Plan 457 retirement match benefit, coming at an initial price tag of $500,000 this year. He said the plan would, “not benefit lower city wage earners, who don’t always have the disposable income to participate in the government sponsored savings plans.”
Tolleson recommended that the merit pay increase stay at 2 percent and the 457 Plan match be retained, but at 1 percent versus 2 percent. That motion passed 4-2, with Igleheart and Henry dissenting and supporting the 3 percent increase instead of the match.
Igleheart said, “Even with these expense cuts the budget is still increasing by over 10 percent smack in the middle of an economic downturn.”
Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?
First year Councilwoman Becky Wynn thanked Igleheart for, “cutting the fat.” She then proceeded to blast the news media for, “suggesting there is a wedge between us [city council and mayor]. This proves we can work together. I am tired of the media’s brand of yellow journalism just to sell papers.”
On the heels of Wynn’s quest for unity, Wood attempted to end the budget-hearing portion of the meeting and defer the vote to later in the night. Igleheart immediately accused Wood of trying to delay the vote until after he had to leave.
“You know I have to leave at 7:30 p.m.,” Igleheart complained, “You want to have the vote on this [budget] without me.”
He made a motion to continue the hearing to a vote, which carried.
Martins Landing resident Lee Fleck groused to Wood, “This is like a union-management negotiation. You want to delay the vote until one minute before midnight when everyone has gone home.”
The Outcome
The lion’s share of Igleheart’s expense reductions were approved unanimously by Council in a 6-0 vote, reducing the 2008-09 spending increase from 13 percent to just over 10 percent.
In the capital expense budget, Oak Street survived the cut.
The millage rate was reduced by $1,000,000 to .202 mills, also passing without dissent.
Councilwoman Lori Henry praised Igleheart for his effort, and summed her position. “We could have cut more on the expense side and cut property taxes by a larger margin. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the votes for that scenario tonight, and we got as many sensible reductions as we could.”
Mayor Wood was upbeat after the meeting, having passed most of what he had hoped for, namely, the city employee benefits.
“I’m very happy to see that the employees got a well-deserved increase. I wish they had got more. I think it’s in these times it was a recognition of their worth to the city. I was pleased that we were able to preserve most of the salary package… . As a taxpayer and property owner in Roswell I’m glad to get a millage rate rollback. I’m glad to see some savings on my tax bill.”