City discusses further cuts in budget shortfall

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

The Jefferson City Council is struggling to deal with an almost $2 million budget shortfall and has yet to approve a plan of cuts proposed by the city administrator last week.

At the City Council meeting Monday, council members discussed further cuts, other options and how they didn’t know about the budget situation sooner.

Last week, it was revealed that the city is running a nearly $2 million shortfall for the current fiscal year and has been overspending in past years. City Administrator Nathan Nickolaus has proposed a series of cuts and measures to deal with the budget situation, including cuts to every department and an early retirement program to help achieve an 8 percent reduction in workforce.

When Nickolaus initially presented the plan last week, he said decisions need to be made quickly, otherwise the figures could change and the city could face deeper cuts.

First Ward Councilman Rick Prather asked why the budget information was not received sooner, specifically during the budget process last fall. Interim Finance Director Bill Betts said he could not speculate as to why the information wasn’t given to the council, but said it was never requested from the information technology department.

In questions to city staff throughout the past week, council members asked about potential effects of large reductions from various city departments as well as city services in an effort to find solutions to the budget shortfall.

A few questions focused on the city’s transit system, which faced deep cuts in the most recent budget process though all funds eventually were restored.

A total elimination of the transit system would save $450,000 in the current fiscal year, with savings in future years estimated at $899,000. To not run bus routes during the slowest periods would save the city about $160,000, though staff still is researching that.

Other questions involved what the effect would be of furloughing all city employees for one week and increasing administrative costs to the Parks and Recreation Commission.

The council plans to continue discussing the budget shortfall at 5:30 p.m. Monday.

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JCLifer 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Closing tha animal shelter? Getting rid of the bus service? Laying off police officers?

But no plans to cut the city administrator's $787/month car allowance???

rodinman 2 months, 2 weeks ago

The city council members and mayor need to lead by example and forgo their pay.

slamdunker 2 months, 1 week ago

I am curious. Does the budget shortfall have anything to do with extravagant and excessive purchase of land to build a new high school “academy”. I just learned a week ago that the land was purchased for $25,000 per acre, yes I said $25,000 per acre. Does this sound excessive to anyone but me? Where did that money come from and why wasn’t the public made aware of this before the purchase? Guess what government officials this was the “taxpayers'” money not yours, where do you get off spending that kind of money on a proposal that hasn’t even been approved by the taxpayers.

online_editor 2 months, 1 week ago

Those are two separate government entities, independent of one another. The public school district and the City of Jefferson don't share a budget, revenue sources or administration.

JCLifer 2 months, 1 week ago

They don't share tevenue sources? Better rethink that one- several of us tax payers are revenue sources for both entities.

melbrooks 2 months, 1 week ago

I would suspect what the online editor was referring to is the fact that school district expenditures are certainly not part of part of the city's budget. Slamdunker seems to have missed that point.

online_editor 2 months, 1 week ago

Yes. Each is operated independently of the other with its own tax levy and tax base. I was trying to convey that each entity has its own body of taxpayers (overlapping in terms of some individuals but a different group in total) paying a specific tax the law requires them to pay.

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