Warren

‘All options are on the table’ in early budget talks

By Brian Louwers
C & G Staff Writer

WARREN — Mayor Jim Fouts wouldn’t call his first look into the city’s budget for the coming year dire, but he did say it’s going to be challenging.

Fouts also said that no options are off the table as the city looks to trim what originally looked like a $19 million shortfall when considering departmental “wish lists,” operating costs and lost revenue.

“Obviously, we’re at crunch time,” Fouts said earlier this month, already days into preliminary budget meetings with department heads at City Hall. “There are discussions on a number of things. The fact is, we are still losing a large amount of money.”

Last year, Fouts proposed using $4 million set aside for building improvements at the 37th District Court to shore up the city’s books. The City Council later voted to save the court’s cash, instead adopting a $90 million budget balanced by a $9.5 million draw from the city’s rainy day fund.

In 2010, the mayor asked council members to increase the police and fire pension millage levy by 0.9 mill, something they could have done without a vote of the people because the city does not levy the maximum amount allowed. That would have raised $3.3 million annually for the city, but the council instead pulled money from the fund balance to erase a $9 million deficit.

The recent draws should have left an estimated $13.94 million in the city’s rainy day coffers.

While Fouts said his administration has cut overtime, improved efficiency, eliminated vacant positions and negotiated with city unions to save money, jobs and services, the mayor said “all options are on the table” heading into this year’s budget hearings that could being next month.

Fouts said he should be prepared to make some kind of announcement by the time he delivers his State of the City remarks at 11:30 a.m. March 28, at Warren’s Andiamo Italia.

“Obviously, we can’t continue to dip into the fund balance without having some alternative plan,” Fouts said. “The council ultimately has three choices: to keep things the way they are, and you can’t do that because of the falling revenue, increase revenue or decrease revenue.

“Something’s got to give. All options are on the table,” Fouts said. “No department is safe. No department is sacred.”

Warren City Council President Cecil St. Pierre served previously on the council from 1987-2003 before he ran again and was elected last year.

St. Pierre said he has yet to see the hard numbers or proposals for this year’s budget, but that officials would be prudent to make necessary cuts if they can.

“Everybody’s got to understand, with revenues down, you’ve got to do more with less,” St. Pierre said. “This isn’t the federal government. You can’t make money. The budget has to be balanced. It’s come to that.

“This is a time in government that you have to make the tough decisions and make cuts, because when times are good, nobody is willing to make cuts. If you’re trying to reduce the size of government, now is the time to do it.”

St. Pierre said he’d favor continued efforts to negotiate concessions with city unions and to implement efficiencies as opposed to asking for a tax increase of any sort.

He added that the situation could go from bad to worse if the state were to eliminate the personal property tax paid by businesses. An idea floated by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder that would begin with the personal property taxes businesses pay on industrial equipment would certainly sting Warren if the tax revenue was not replaced, given the number of heavy industrial manufacturers in the city.

“Nobody’s talking about that,” St. Pierre said. “You pull those numbers out of the budget, you take that out of the equation, it would be disastrous.”

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Brian Louwers at brianlouwers@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1089.