From the Salem Leader:
The City of Salem is taking precautions in preparation for a possible fiscal crunch.
During Monday's city council meeting, members approved a resolution reducing the city's 2013 budget by 12 percent.
Salem Mayor David Bower said that is the estimated shortfall in property tax receipts, which Bower attributes to the circuit breaker legislation passed several years ago. Circuit Breaker caps the amount of property taxes a property owner pays.
"Her estimate may be high, it may be low," Bower said, referring to Pat Persinger, the city's clerk-treasurer. "We are being proactive."
Persinger said a factor is a drop in assessed valuation within the city, which is $165,639,000, down $5,500,000 from last year.
"We've got to get more assessed valuation within the city's limits," Persinger told council members.
Bower said increasing the assessed valuation is one reason for his efforts to attract a big box store to the community.
He told the council that he has met with department heads, who have been asked to cut 2 percent from their budgets.
Bower mentioned efforts to reduce costs, including a reduction in the number of employees, from 81, the number in 2008 when he took office, to 63 today.
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