LEXINGTON, KY - Mayor Jim Newberry rolled out a $274 million proposed budget in the face of a third straight year with decreased city revenues.
While the mayor's budget - which must be approved by Urban County Council - proposes eliminating 17 full-time and 25 part-time or seasonal jobs, Newberry said the cuts are on account of government efficiency and not directly tied to the decreased city revenue.
"What we ultimately decided to do was reduce our workforce in those areas where we thought there were operating efficiencies that needed to be implemented regardless. Of the 42 permanent full-time, seasonal and temporary employees that will be losing their jobs, all of those are people whose jobs we thought we needed to cut back on because we thought there were better ways to run those programs," he said.
The bulk of the full-time job cuts, 10, will come from the city's human resources and risk management departments as Information Technology implemented over the last few years has rendered some of those departments' jobs moot.
Another five full-time jobs that are being eliminated will come from the city's Day Treatment Center as the city would enter into a contract with Fayette County Public Schools to administer the center's food service program.
The remainder of the city's job cuts would come as a result of the conversion of the Winburn Community Center into an after school center, which will eliminate one full time job, and the shuttering of the Parks Department's 9-hole Avon Golf Course as well as two city pools which will result in the final full-time job cut and around 25 seasonal employees.
"Avon has been operating at about $40,000 a year loss," Newberry said. "We don't have the hard evidence to document it, but anecdotally it appears half or so of the rounds of golf being played there are being played by people who live outside of Fayette County. And there aren't a huge number of rounds being played there anyway."
Newberry isn't sure what will become of the golf course. Located on land owned by the US Department of Defense at Bluegrass Station, a deal will need to be worked out with the DoD. The mayor wasn't ready to say the two pools, Berry Hill and Constitution, will be closed for good, but at a savings of $60,000 for Fiscal Year 2011, they would at least not open for this upcoming summer, under his proposal.
Many of the city's "Partner Agencies," including Commerce Lexington, the Downtown Lexington Corporation, the Community Action Council, the Downtown Arts Center, the Kentucky World Trade Center and the Explorium would see a 7.5 percent decrease in funding for FY-11. At a total savings of $664,300 by reducing partner agency funding, the cuts spare the Salvation Army, the Hope Center, the Bluegrass Domestic Violence Program, and M.A.S.H. Services of the Bluegrass. While cut, the Downtown Development Authority will see a 3.9 percent reduction, rather than the 7.5 percent seen by others. Also unscathed in the mayor's proposed budget is funding for the arts through LexArts and the Purchase of Development Rights program which received matching federal and state dollars.
Though Commerce Lexington will see a 7.5 percent cut, totaling $14,160, Newberry proposed a $25,000 business incubator to be funded by LFUCG but housed at Commerce Lexington.
A program started a couple of years ago that required all licensed businesses in the county to pay $100 of tax money in advance, which would be credited to any tax owed, has been tweaked. Sole proprietorships that bring in less than $4,400 per year are now exempt and all others that still have to pay the $100 in advance will have it due during April of the tax year rather than November or December of the previous year.
Newberry said he expects council will make changes to his proposed budget as usual, and won't be surprised to see political-wrangling in the process as Vice Mayor Jim Gray, the head of council, is running against him for mayor.
"I am sure there will be some political arguments made along the way and the council will just have to assess those as they foresee them," Newberry said. "I can certainly see some opportunities in the budget for political opponents to make hay."
The Mayor did not have to wait long.
At 1:09 p.m., just as Newberry was beginning a press briefing on the budget, the Gray campaign released a statement asserting that the Mayor has not gone far enough to cut spending within the government. "I am glad the Mayor has taken some action, but his weak response to these issues has come at a steep price to taxpayers," Gray said.
Gray stated in the release that if he was mayor today he would cut mayoral staff salaries and perks, implement "real plans to eliminate waste and abuse within boards, commissions, and the administration," reduce or eliminate personal service contracts, cut lobbying expenses for the city and would provide greater help for small businesses such as giving incentives to those who hire Lexington talent.
"Like CentrePointe, the Airport and the water company rate increase, the Mayor is once again too little, too late in his response to the problems of the city. Millions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted," Gray's statement said.
Gray's campaign press release was soon followed by a response from the Newberry campaign. "Vice Mayor Gray is once again ignoring the facts, misleading the public and hoping the voters aren't smart enough to know the difference," said Newberry campaign manager Lance Blanford. Blanford noted that Gray has voted for each of the mayor's previous three budgets, offering few, if any, ideas or changes in the process.
The Newberry campaign proceeded to offer rebuttals to Gray's assertions, noting that the mayor has already eliminated two positions in his office that had been funded in FY2010 and that neither the mayor nor his staff will receive a raise in the FY11 budget. In addition, it noted, the Mayor, his commissioners and senior office staff are already taking 10 unpaid furlough days. "Neither Vice Mayor Gray nor any of the council staff he oversees stepped up to the plate to join the Mayor and his staff in taking 10 unpaid furlough days," the Newberry statement said.
The Newberry campaign pointed out that cuts in the budget for the mayor's office came to 14.9 percent for FY09 and 9.5 percent for FY10 with a cut of 10 percent proposed for FY11.
Regarding the Vice Mayor's comment concerning the elimination of "waste and abuse within boards, commissions and the administration," the Newberry response noted that in 2009 the mayor "implemented board training for boards whose members are appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Council, with special emphasis on personnel and financial oversight training" and noted that Newberry has urged city boards to implement the State Auditor's recommendations for more effective boards.
The Newberry statement said personal or "professional" service contracts have already been reduced across government as part of cost cutting measures implemented in recent years. And it stated that the Mayor's office has already reduced lobbying expenses.
On the matter of providing incentives to small businesses that hire Lexington talent, the Newberry statement noted that the Mayor proposes investing $25,000 in the creation of a "jobs incubator" and has proposed that owners of small businesses or sole proprietors with less than $4,400 in gross receipts be excluded entirely from paying the city's minimum license fee.
The city's final FY-11 budget which runs from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011 must be adopted by council.