Tempe City Council members are considering proposals to cut up to 180 jobs, reduce employee benefits by about $6 million a year and reorganize city departments.
City Manager Charlie Meyer presented the proposals as possible solutions to the city’s $11.5 million budget shortfall this fiscal year in a public workshop at the Tempe Transportation Center on Monday morning.
Tempe, like many cities across the country, has suffered from lagging sales-tax revenues brought on by a poorly performing national economy.
The proposed plan could be implemented as early as February depending on feedback from department managers, Meyer said. The managers will assess the impact the measures would have on services to residents and business owners, he said.
“We’re just looking for feedback [from employees and council members] on whether there are some we should not pursue,” Meyer said.
Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman said it’s important to keep city services such as public safety and local bus routes intact when making budget cuts.
“The goal here is to minimally impact services to our residents,” Hallman said. “The goal always is to end up with the reorganization [plan] that does the least damage in the delivery of service to our residents.”
Other recommendations presented to the council included cutting positions in the city attorney’s office and cutting personnel in the office of Tempe Police Chief Tom Ryff.
The proposal to cut staff within the police department was met with heavy opposition from City Council members, who have expressed interest in keeping police and fire services untouched even amidst the budget crisis.
Council member Onnie Shekerjian expressed concern that cutting police personnel would lead to an increase in crime in Tempe.
“Because of our crime analysis and intelligence capabilities, we have been able to reduce our crime rate dramatically,” Shekerjian said.
Council member Corey Woods agreed, saying the new growth in downtown Tempe makes public safety an even higher priority.
“We have all these new [attractions] downtown, but it doesn’t matter if people don’t feel safe going to them,” Woods said.
One key measure to the budget-balancing plan presented by Meyer includes reserving money for retired city employee health care, also known as Other Post Employment Benefits. That reserve would be available for balancing the budget during shortfalls.
“If we don’t have a reserve to pay [for OPEB], then it’s got to come out of the general operations fund,” Hallman said. “And all we’ll have left is money to pay for retirees’ health care.”
Meyer also took suggestions from council members. Shekerjian suggested reducing the City Council budget by cutting aide positions in each council member’s office and employee benefits.
“If everyone else is going to be asked to feel the pinch, then we should feel the pinch,” she said. “It shouldn’t just be employees outside the council.”
Reach the reporter at derek.quizon@asu.edu.
