Tuesday, May 17, 2011
 
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CITY BRIEFS:
New hires approved if...; state payments slow; collection agency put on hold

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[May 17, 2011]  Monday night, eight aldermen were present for the voting session of the Lincoln City Council. Alderwoman Stacy Bacon and Alderman Tom O'Donohue were absent for the evening.

New hires approved if...

In motions from Alderwoman Kathy Horn on behalf of the fire department and Alderman Jeff Hoinacki on behalf of the police department, each requested the approval of one new hire for their respective departments but stipulated the hiring could not be done until after July 1.

The stipulation was added to the motions due to financial uncertainty on the state level.

In recent weeks Gov. Pat Quinn has come up with a plan to save the state billions of dollars by doing away with state income tax disbursements to municipalities.

Across the state, municipalities including the city of Lincoln are launching protests to this action, as it will have dire effects on their ability to run their local governments.

Mayor Keith Snyder commented on this last night, saying that if state legislators go forward with this plan, it will cost the city of Lincoln $1.2 million in revenues that go directly to the city's general operation fund. Payroll comes from that fund.

Snyder has said in past weeks that such a cut would leave the city with some hard decisions to make regarding staff and services, with cuts to various departments inevitable.

Snyder also commented Monday night that there is an alternate plan on the table at the state level that would cut funding to cities by 30 percent. This, he said, would equate to $340,000 in lost revenue.

If either of these two proposals passes on the state level, the decision to add new hires to the fire and police departments may have to be reversed.

The state will begin its new fiscal year July 1, and it is hoped that there will be a working budget by that time. The decision of whether or not to cut and how much to cut from disbursements to municipalities will be decided in connection with that new budget.

When the two motions came to a vote, both passed with votes of 6-2 with Aldermen Buzz Busby and David Armbrust voting "no."

During the city's budget-building process in March, money was added to the fire and police budgets for new hires. Busby said then that he would not vote in favor of new hires for those departments until the city had also approved new hires for the street department. In the city's new fiscal year budget, no dollars were allotted for new hires for the street department.

State dollars slowing once again

City Treasurer Chuck Conzo delivered his report for April and accented it with a warning that the state is once again slowing down on its reimbursements to the city.

The state disburses several tax amounts to the city of Lincoln on what is supposed to be a monthly basis. Over the last two years, those disbursements, which are supposed to come to the city within 60 to 90 days of their collection by the state, have slowed to a mere trickle at times, with the state falling four, five and six months behind in making payments.

The state did beef up the payment schedule a bit last year at the beginning of its fiscal year, but now, as the state's year nears its close, it appears that the money is running out again, and they are withholding disbursements to the city.

Conzo noted in particular the state income tax disbursements, saying the payment the city received in April was for taxes collected in December, meaning the state is four months behind in payments.

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On a brighter note, Conzo handed out a spreadsheet showing comparative sales tax collections over the last five years. The city's share of sales tax collected for the calendar year 2010 exceeds 2009 by $223,997.66.

The figures Conzo provided are as follows:

  • In 2006 the city collected $2,292,133.81.

  • In 2007 the city collected $2,548,812.14.

  • In 2008 the city collected $2,642,584.60.

  • In 2009 the city collected $2,501,107.74.

  • In 2010 the city collected $2,725,105.40.

He also reported that the cash values of portions of the police and fire pension funds are up slightly.

A portion of firemen's pension fund is invested in annuities and portions of the police pension are invested in CD ladders and mutual funds. The value of these funds is driven by interest rates and stock market values. With slight increases in market trading in general, the value of the investments has gone up.

New budget year, new sidewalk repairs

In the last few months of the old fiscal year, the council had to stop taking requests for sidewalk repairs, due to a lack of money in the budget.

With the city's new fiscal year beginning May 1, there is once again money for sidewalks, and two requests for such work were submitted and approved this week.

Motion on collection agency tabled

On the agenda for Monday night was a motion to approve hiring Midwest Credit Collections to take on some of the city's delinquent sewer accounts.

Alderwoman Marty Neitzel asked that the motion be tabled.

A few minutes later, during the public announcement portion of the meeting, she told aldermen that they would be hearing from the city's sewer billing clerks, who have an idea they would like the council to consider about the collection of delinquent accounts.

[By NILA SMITH]

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