The Tempe City Council met Friday morning to discuss a budget proposal that could cut more than $30 million across all departments.
The meeting with city officials, department managers and Tempe residents was the first of many scheduled to take place over the next month discussing prioritization of cuts before they are finalized March 4.
“We’ve finalized what we think our target is,” Mayor Hugh Hallman said. “[Now, we] will figure out what the priority items are.”
The council members discussed a proposal put together by Finance Manager Jerry Hart and City Manager Charlie Meyer. The proposal is a basic outline of measures that can be taken to dig Tempe out of its financial hole.
During the discussion, the council assumed the sales tax would pass when voters make their decision in May.
Anticipated to generate about $10 million in revenue, the tax was developed with consideration of current trends and statistics. The sales tax, which will not apply to food items, will expire four years after it is imposed.
“While it will certainly help us in those four years to restore cuts in the plan, we still have to deal with [the deficit] after those four years,” Meyer said.
The council also discussed many short-term restoration opportunities, including furloughs, staff reductions and the application of a new “fire enhancement” fee that will be added to red-light and speed camera violations.
The money gathered from the fee would be applied to a general fund to reinstate important services that were cut and will not go toward specific departments, like fire or the courts, officials said.
“We’re trying to recover cost, not impose fines,” Hallman said.
In discussions of furloughs and pay reductions, the council stressed that diligence should be used to ensure the right decision is made.
“The principle would be only impose furloughs if they save money,” Hallman said. “If we end up having to hire people back to fill in furlough holes, we’re not saving money.”
The proposal includes a 3 percent pay decrease for all city employees, which would allow $3.3 million in reductions.
The council took into account that departments facing reductions may also have to implement furloughs, a concern to department leaders whose services will get bogged down with cuts.
“I just want to make sure that the groups that are … getting hit with a 5 percent cut and [have to do] furloughs … that we are sensitive [to that],” said Councilman Corey Woods.
The council will hold meetings in upcoming weeks for citizens and employee groups to weigh in, and will reconvene on March 4 to finalize the proposal and prioritize cuts.
Though the allocation of cuts has been difficult, council members said they hope the city will come out of the recession stronger than before.
“It can be said that as painful as this is, some of these things are things that should have been done whether or not there was a recession,” Hallman said.
Reach the reporter at joseph.schmidt@asu.edu
