From the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette:
No one wants to pay more in taxes. But city leaders have trimmed budgets where they could. The only options left are increasing taxes or making cuts to services that residents are sure to feel.
On Friday, Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control officials announced they were cutting the shelter’s pet adoption hours. Budget constraints forced the department, which is responsible for public safety when it comes to animals as well as for the care of lost and stray pets, to close its pet adoption center on Mondays.
“Like everyone else, we are doing our best to manage our budget and employees yet still offer quality service,” said Peggy Bender, community relations and education specialist for the agency, in an email.
To alleviate the wait times for people wanting to adopt pets, the shelter’s adoption center is also going to stay open a half hour longer, from noon to 5:30 p.m., on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. The goal is to make pet adoptions more convenient for people’s work schedules despite the Monday closure.
Animal Care and Control is not alone in having to make drastic budget decisions. The Parks and Recreation Department needs $3 million for park maintenance.
The city’s public works department is also dealing with declining gas-tax revenue. City officials estimate there is a $60 million backlog in roadwork and a need for $13.5 million a year just to keep up with road needs.
“It’s definitely a quality-of-life issue,” said Bob Kennedy, director of public works. “Everyone wants to live on a street that’s well maintained.”
For example, asphalt streets last about 15 years in the Midwest. But budget constraints mean the city is on pace to replace asphalt roads every 36 years.
Both the Fort Wayne police and fire departments are understaffed and have put off academy classes as a cost-saving measure. But there is no way to meet public safety demands without hiring new officers and firefighters. That cost is $2.8 million.
“Over the last several years we’ve had to make some major cuts in supportive services,” Fire Chief Amy Biggs said.
The number of code enforcement investigators has gone from 10 to eight, arson investigators were reduced from seven to four and fire education officers from three to two.
She said that may not seem like a drastic decrease, but it means the public education division, which used to have an official on site supervising fire drills at every school and nursing home, is able only to review the safety drill documentations.
“Those divisions have taken the hit over the last several years,” Biggs said. “Now our staffing levels in the field are being affected. We always have overtime.”
If the city is unable to find additional public safety funding, she said, the department faces the possibility of brownouts – where fire stations are temporarily closed or open a reduced number of hours.
“Obviously, that’s a huge risk and something we don’t want to face. Other cities have had to do it,” she said.
Biggs said some people may see a particular station and think that it’s not very active.
“The fact is people need us at the point in time they need us, and there’s no way we can be predictors of that,” she said. “That’s what our future holds without a LOIT, without being fully funded.” (LOIT is the local option income tax.)
Residents have an opportunity today and again on June 18 to voice their thoughts on proposals to adopt a new local option income tax and a property tax-supported cumulative capital development fund during public hearings.
Citizens should not only consider whether or not they are willing to pay more in taxes, but what city services they are able to forgo.
http://journalgazette.net/article/20130611/EDIT07/306119989/0/SEARCH
