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Before pressing the “panic button”
It might be a good idea to consider some numbers, re ambulance fee receipts (“collections”):
2004, $249,403; 2005, $307,899; 2006, $308,453; 2007, $577,523; 2008, $655,507; 2009 (projected) $550,000; 2010, (budgeted) $531,000
Like most city departments, salaries in EMS/Fire have jumped, in recent years: up a whopping 34 percent since 2006 ($1,050,117 budgeted for 2010, $782,167 in 2006). Sounds like a lot, and it is . . . but EMS receipts increased 72 percent ($308,453 to $531,000) in the same time period, even with a “conservative”/low end budget figure. Other city departments, based on numbers in the preliminary budget, had increases of 10-30 percent in salaries, 2006-2010. Yet how many of them are bringing in revenues that put them anywhere near self-sufficiency? Sure, there’s the Water Utility, which has grown a huge surplus . . . thanks to users/residents being charged high rates for poor quality.
Voters clearly stated that what city council asked for to subsidize EMS was too much; now council has to figure out a way out of it. But blowing up EMS (as some people have been suggesting) or pushing the panic/fire button might prove short-sighted, when considering the above numbers. Residents have every right to demand top performance from highly paid professionals. With that in mind, it might be wise to look across the board at each department’s revenues vs. expenditures.
Many also have expressed their outrage over the costly fire station. Another over-shooting political decision, made by city council a few years ago. It’s quite an emotional hot button, and a potential financial trap, if REET (Real Estate Excise Tax) continues its steep decline . . . however, for the next three years, it should have absolutely no effect on annual budgets.
Just some thoughts . . . hopefully, some folks will ease off on the vitriol and take a look at the numbers . . .
maybe the city should take over the community club. They pull in around 1 mil a year. We could have the mayor clean it at night to save expenses.
Priority Paul: I will double check, but I believe it is no longer possible to sell the Weatherwax; not an option. (Why anyone would buy undeveloped property in the middle of town when there is so much commercial property going for discount is another issue . ..) Re you layoff figures, I don’t have the figures at my disposal now but will post them when I get them; I can say for sure that your numbers are not accurate, they simply don’t add up to the total of at least 10 FTE layoffs in the last year.
Just to clarify the comment on the Weatherwax. It is actually a potental source of revenue once the wetland banking process has been completed. We get a win win by keeping open space, which will ultimately be gone some time in the future, and we get revenue.
Your idea about the Police and Fire Department makes sense. I would suggest our current Police Chief be the Director over it. He currently is the Emergency Manager for the city.
The water issues is sticky. The issue is that we can not be supplied enough water from Hogan’s Corner. We would also have to build facilities to get the water to our central distribution point. The pipe out there now is too small. Also, we are not sure of the quality of the water once the wells there are stressed. Our water used to be fine. Then more demand caused issues along with declining well productivity.
The road department probably is something to look at. However, considering the job Granite did for us, we may have some work real soon. Also, just look around town and see where the corners of the roads are starting to get run down because we did not widen them. We just put the same thing down and then gravel thrown and not compacted at the edge. I suspect they will be busy fixing these soon. What really is needed is a drop in the number of days the city is open for administration, Public Works Administration and everything but Police and Fire. That would represent a real savings. Also, we need to look at the individual budget items that they spend on. Many are the same numbers they had this year. That represent no cuts in supplies and purchases of capital items and other expenses like travel and small equipment and tools. There is plenty of things that need to be flushed out into the light of day.
Could someone please clarify the previous layoffs by department? From what I have heard it went as follows:
Administration: Zero
Public Works: Zero full-time – 4 part-time
Fire Dept: 1 full time
Police Dept: 3 full-time (2 officers and 1 clerk)
If this is true, does anyone see a trend here?
I would suggest the Fire Dept and Police Dept restructure.
Create a Public Safety Director position and have one admin deputy chief in each department and no other admins.
That will save at least $100,000 a year and maybe solve some management problems.
Next – see about cancelling the new water treatment plans, switch to the county plan and dump half the water department slots.
Next – Since the roads are in such fine shape now, we should be able to eliminate some slosh in the street dept.
Next – Sell the Weatherwax property. It does nothing for the City in reality and presents a serious liability if anyone gets hurt (falls down, trips over a root or get mauled by a bear or cougar) on one of the “trails” that appear to be “city maintained” because of the slick signs at the entrance.
I don’t have any facts to justify my suggestions but I am hoping someone will be able to provide that.
We need an outside trouble shooter to come in and look at every department, every building, every salary. and then tell the city where cuts can and must be made. I did this in my own home when my income took a plunge. Sure at first it hurts, but over time it becomes routine. An outsider will have no remorse over suggested lay offs or cessation of what the Council and the Department Heads think are necessary services. Lets get real here folks and balance the budget!
AND PAY COMMUNITY CLUB DUES……….GIVE EM HELL TOM
Chuck: I totally disagree with your ridiculous suggestions!
It should be FREE to get in, $50 to get out. (This way we lure in the unsuspecting tourists, and those who can’t afford to get out have to stay and become part of the tax base.)
Birddog: I believe the request for new ambulance is $159,000. (Note: Garland French said yesterday he wanted a minimum utility for EMS, no new equipment.)
Good point about other departments’ revenue sources. I think a department by department revenues vs. expenditures (as you said, not just salaries, equipment, vehicles etc.) would be helpful. If it’s not extractable from the budget, I’ll request this.
Once council and it’s employees loose credibility and they already have lost it. It is extremely difficult to earn it back. Even numbers are no longer trusted. Every one of them must be verified as coming from a credible source. Representatives of the public are expected to be credible if they are not, who is going to waste time and energy checking every detail of what they say. It becomes far more efficient not to believe anything they say and vote no on everything to keep from being taken to the cleaners by those who have mislead before for whatever reason even if it was ignorance or mistakes.
It’s about time the residents of this town took control away from the Tourist and Development industry pimps who’s aim is to stuff their pockets by turning Ocean Shores into a California style development.
We could gain much revenue by closing the beach access roads and charging a fee to drive or park on the beach. Residents would be exempt. On the Fourth of July alone we could probably raise millions of dollars.
How about double or triple fees for non-residents to use the golf course?
I would be in favor of making the gates to the city a toll gate. We could charge tourists $10 to get into the city and $20 to get out.
The city officials must get off their “high horse”, assuming that they know what is best for the citizens and start listening to the voice of the voters and listening to what was presented during this campaign. A path was shown, but it appears that they choose not to listen. Instead, once again they are proposing the easy way out for them– to put the burden of balancing the budget on the taxpayers and ratepayers instead of doing the job we elected them for–taking the extra step to improve efficiencies in government.
Revenue Expense
531,000 1,050,117
308,453 782,167
222,547 267,950 -45,403
If you notice, the labor costs vs. the revenue still leaves a negative balance. Now, yes they are creating income, but how about the rest of the expenses of this and every department. One can’t just look at payroll. What else is on the shopping list for 2010? I keep hearing that we need new ambulances. So, what does one of those cost. If, as I heard, we can not certify one after 100,000 miles, what is the cost per mile just for the equipment. Now add fuel and maintenance. What is the net cost per mile that we should be receiving. Now, how does that compare to what we are getting paid per mile from all sources? Medicare? Medicaid? Private Insurance? Private Party? Can we recover our costs? Is it sustainable in light of our current fiscal problems?
Have we asked the other departments to look for revenue sources? Have we ever studied or will we be able to get that detailed with our new software? If so, are we going to. There is a difference there. One is ability and the other is will to do it.
If we did cost accounting and time and motion studies, something Mr. Skewis should be able to oversee, we may get some real answers. Then we can see where we should be going. We would know what to charge. We would know how to resolve our issues beyond taxes and utilities.
Maybe we should learn from the water utility before we do it for EMS. Was not the original EMS Levy a short term tax? That is what I have been told by people who were here when it was passed. Give an addict a little, and they always want more. Is that the case here??
It’s hard not to get bitter. We see people who we elected, people who we expected to be looking out for us, consistantly making bad decisions that we have to pay for. We see us being forced out of our beautiful house that we thought we would spend the rest of our lives in because of one “small” utilty charge added on here and then more added on to the road cost…etc etc. It all adds up. We are on a budget but the city council isn’t.
you are right tom we have seen a huge growth in salaries, a lot of other places did as well. When we see reports that only 40 percent of money that should be coming back in is not billed, with that 40 percent it almost does break even. With billing almost breaking even more ems personel could be added without “breaking the bank” All we are asking for is a responsible, honest, and transparent city government. Until that happens I feel the no votes will keep coming.