From the Elkhart Truth:
A freeze in hiring and a mix of spending cuts and fee hikes will save or generate $1.19 million for Elkhart this year, helping the city keep within its 2012 spending plan, Mayor Dick Moore announced Wednesday.
Still, it’s not smooth sailing from here on out. The varied measures stem from a steeper-than-expected dip this year in property tax revenue brought on by tax caps — $8.53 million instead of $6.4 million — and Moore says the decline is expected to get even bigger next year, $10.5 million.
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Elkhart officials announced in early April the higher-than-expected property tax cap loss here and they’ve been scrambling ever since to formulate a plan to come up with $2.5 million to offset the reduction. In addition to the $1.19 million from spending cuts, fee hikes and other measures, the city hopes for an extra $500,000 from its insurance fund and $1.1 million more from the state in overdue tax receipts, according to Wednesday’s press release. Added together, that totals $2.79 million, enough to maintain the $54.5 million spending plan for 2012.
Here are more specifics on the changes:
• Personnel: One of the broad goals was to avoid layoffs of full-time employees, but part-time and seasonal help will be scaled back. That, taken together with reduced hours this summer at some of the city’s parks, including Pierre Moran pool and Heaton Lake Beach, will help save $97,000.
The city enacted a hiring freeze last month on all but emergency personnel, which ought to help save $130,279, and “non-emergency” overtime is now prohibited, a change expected to save $100,000.
• Fees: Cemetery burial fees have been increased, though the precise hike wasn’t immediately available Wednesday, and rental fees for small hangars at the Elkhart airport, which vary depending on precise size, will go up by $10 a month. Officials have already approved those increases, while still in the works is a hike in the building permit fee, from $25 to $30. Those three changes are expected to generate $132,416 in extra revenue.
Also on the table but yet to be approved are a new $5 “fuel surcharge” to tickets for moving violations like speeding, a new $30 booking fee for those incarcerated in the city jail and a new $10 fee for inspections police officials do of wrecked or damaged vehicles. Those measures would generate an extra $297,423.
• Spending cuts: Department heads put forth a range of reductions in supplies and other areas totaling $336,543.
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http://www.etruth.com/article/20120510/NEWS01/705109905/0/FRONTPAGE
