Columbia City Council passes fiscal year 2010 budget

Next year's city budget decreased 3 percent from 2009.

By Trevor Eischen

Published Sept. 22, 2009

In front of a packed chamber, City Council passed the fiscal year 2010 budget at the council's Monday night meeting.

City Manager Bill Watkins said finishing the budget before the Oct. 1 deadline was important to continue the functions of the city.

"If the council does not act, that's really a problem," Watkins said. "We do not want that to happen."

The budget includes a 3 percent drop in spending from the last fiscal year, with entire city budget coming in at $403 million.

Hearings on the budget have gone on for the past four council meetings. Many groups, organizations and unions attended these proceedings to voice their opinions about the proposed budget.

One important issue addressed at previous meetings was pay reduction and overtime to city employees. Under discussion was whether employees should receive weekly or daily pay for overtime.

An amendment, which was passed by the council, means government employees are paid overtime on a weekly basis, if they are paid hourly. This means if someone works only three days a week, they do not get paid overtime unless they work more than a week's worth of hours.

In addition to this, city employees must bear the burden of a $1 million rollback on employee salaries.

At the meeting, both non-union and union workers gave their opinions on the city budget. Several non-union city employees were in favor of the city manager's budget.

Kevin Ford, who spoke on behalf of Public Services Employees Local Union 773, said union members were hurt by this amendment because many union members are paid on an hourly basis, while non-union members generally earn a salary.

"How can you ask 33 percent of your city employees to foot the bill for the other 66 percent?" Ford said.

All council members approved the city manager's amendment, except for Sixth Ward Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe.

Hoppe said she understood why disgruntled employees feel the burden should be spread among all city employees, even department heads and highly paid employees who earn six-figure salaries.

"As a director, you have to lead and when you're asking your employees to sacrifice, the directors need to lead by example by making that sacrifice," Hoppe said.

Third Ward Councilman Karl Skala, though agreeing with the amendment, said he also showed concern about the focused burden of salary reductions on specific, lower-earning employees.

"There is no provision in this proposal to suggest that some of the very highly paid department heads and staff are making bit of a sacrifice too," Skala said. "Maybe that should be part of the discussion."

Not only government employees will feel the impact of the budget. Chapters 13, 22 and 27 of the budget will increase many utility costs for residents. Sewer rates will increase by 15 percent, water rates by 8 percent and electric rates by 5 percent. All together, the rate increases would add an additional $8.70 a month to average customer utility bills.

These rate increases and funding decreases for various city programs are due to a projected shortfall in expected revenue. The budget predicts no growth in sales tax, and other revenues are expected to drop, for a total decrease of more than $17 million.