Taylor Info Winter 2010-2011 REMEMBERING OUR HEROES The Official Newsletter of the City of Taylor Page 2 Taylor Info Index A Message from the Mayor Mayor’s Message By Mayor Jeffrey P. Lamarand left us in a poor financial position to handle emergen- Page 2 cies. More importantly, we must realize that we can Greetings once again. not operate in the status quo. We must continue to Budget Update It has now been one year since I came to work for the change the way we do things and prioritize the pur- Page 3 citizens of Taylor, as your Mayor. A “trial by fire,” pose of Taylor’s city government. Additionally, blam- Remembering some would call it, as we have had to deal with many ing the State of Michigan for cutting revenue sharing Cpl. Edwards & unfortunate circumstances isn’t the answer; we must learn how to work and ex- Lt. Kromer never seen by Taylor in its sto- ist within our own means. Pages 4-5 ried history. Besides being left As I am entrusted with the management of your tax with an enormous budget defi- dollars, my responsibility is to protect your interests. Awards, Grants cit and a non-existent fund bal- And I have, first by reducing management and lower- & Free Smoke ance, we had the tragic losses ing salaries and benefits to new employees —“trim- Detectors of Corporal Matthew Edwards ming the fat” one would call it. Second, we’ve been Page 6 and Auxiliary Lieutenant Dan trying to negotiate with our bargaining groups for Demolitions Kromer. These two tragedies months and our goal is to reduce as much of the Page 7 are the first of their nature in associated costs as possible, not employees. Tay- Mayor Lamarand Taylor’s history and happened lor has a great reputation of providing excellent ser- Seasonal talks about the bud- a mere six weeks apart. vice to its residents, and that is justifiable. We ex- News, History get at a recent Cof- But, in the face of these two pect to continue to do so but, as I said, not the same Page 8 fee with the Mayor. tragedies we have seen the way we’ve always done it. We’ve been trying to work Conservatory strength of our community; a strength that reaffirms with our employee groups to find common ground – Page 9 a pride and value that the residents of Taylor have in where the taxpayers get the greatest benefit. their hometown. I am proud of our resiliency and Library To that end, I feel it is important to keep you up to humbled to have the opportunity to serve you. Page 11 date as to where your tax dollars are going. The chart In the midst of all of this, we must be reminded that below and the information on Page 3 provide a look Leisure Times the decisions of the last decade to balance the bud- into your city’s budget. Pages 13-22 get with fund balances and not reduce spending have Santa’s Magic Forest Page 13 Holiday Events Page 14 Rec Center Page 16 Petting Farm Page 18 Sportsplex Page 19 Senior News Pages 20-21 Golf News Page 22 Calendar, Directory Page 23 Note: 0% = less than 1% of city budget On the Cover of Taylor Info: The City of Taylor mourned the deaths of police Cpl. Matthew Edwards and auxiliary police Lt. Dan Kromer during the summer of 2010. They were the first Taylor police officer and auxiliary officer killed in the line of duty. Follow- up coverage appears on Pages 4 and 5. Thank you to Michael Vela of the Taylor Information Technology Department for creating the cover remembering the two fine officers. Also, thanks to Ron’s Graphics of Taylor for creating the badges. Taylor Info Page 3 City of Taylor Budget Update Last Spring, Taylor Info included an article on the City of Taylor General Fund need for substantial cuts in the City of Taylor’s Comparison of Budgets for FYE 2011 vs. FYE 2010 General Fund budget. For too long, the city’s Final 10/31/2010 % Change annual budget had essentially been adopted with From FYE a “structural deficit,” meaning that the normal Amended Budget Current Budget 2010 operating expenditures typically exceeded the ex- Departments FYE 6/30/10 FYE 6/30/11 Inc (Decrease) pected operating revenues. City officials often re- $ lied on short-term fixes, such as selling city prop- City Council 142,000 135,000 -5% erty, to generate funds to pay for operations, while 23rd District Court 1,504,700 1,570,700 4% ignoring the long-term effects of failing to make Mayor 285,200 217,000 -24% the budget cuts necessary to operate within a Assessor 362,500 377,200 4% truly balanced budget. In this article, we’ll update Corporate Counsel 310,000 132,000 -57% you on our progress in addressing the fiscal City Clerk 440,900 356,000 -19% stress that has affected nearly every municipal- 503,400 428,000 -15% ity in Michigan. Budget & Finance Human Resources 652,000 552,400 -15% First of all, the administration has taken a con- Treasurer 390,300 349,700 -10% servative approach toward the estimation of rev- Information Technologies 589,000 477,800 -19% enues. Tax revenues are expected to be down Building & Grounds 4,064,300 3,488,200 -14% approximately $2 million citywide, primarily as a Utilities 1,130,000 1,100,000 -3% result of plummeting property values. Also, state- Police Dept. 13,276,355 12,011,400 -10% shared revenues, which have dropped every Fire Dept. 7,978,500 7,212,500 -10% year since 2001, were budgeted at 90% of the prior year amount promised by the State of Michi- Ordinance Enforcement 362,100 349,100 -4% gan in anticipation of typical mid-year cuts by Planning 122,500 147,000 20% state officials as they try to balance their own bud- Economic Development 396,500 232,200 -41% get. Overall revenues for the fiscal year that Animal Shelter 530,300 443,000 -16% ended June 30, 2010, were just over $55 million, DPW 1,710,977 1,465,600 -14% but are estimated at under $52 million for the cur- Solid Waste 4,676,506 4,478,200 -4% rent fiscal year. Revenues are likely to drop even Street Lighting 1,475,000 1,300,000 -12% further in the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2011. Housing and Neigh. Dev. 213,200 149,700 -30% Parks, Recreation & The expenditures for the fiscal year that ended Senior Services 2,277,100 1,525,775 -33% June 30, 2010, were budgeted at $61.2 million, Library 821,900 836,100 2% but mid-year cost-saving efforts reduced the ac- Employee Fringe tual expenditures to approximately $58.2 Benefits 14,049,800 10,938,200 -22% million…still $3 million more than the revenues. Risk Management 1,140,000 1,050,000 -8% The payroll has been reduced more than 5% General Administration 684,000 409,500 -40% during the 2010 calendar year as compared to Motor Vehicle Pool 1,124,300 887,500 -21% 2009, despite the fact that no new union con- Debt Service 2,700 2,700 0% tracts have been settled. The fiscal year 2011 Total $ 61,216,038 $ 52,622,475 -14% budget reflects the administration’s efforts to cut costs, as expenditures in the General Fund are budgeted at $52.6 million for the current year. The chart on this page shows the comparison between the previous and current fiscal year expenditure budgets on a departmental basis. The administration is hopeful that once agreements are reached on the various union contracts, additional cost savings will be achieved, not only for the current year but for future years as well. As noted in the previous Taylor Info article, negotiating cost savings in the area of employee fringe benefits is critical to reducing the biggest part of the budget. However, with one-third of the budget year already gone, it’s likely that the city will need to dip into some of its savings from the prior year to offset some potential cost overruns. The city has yet to see any anticipated savings in health care or compensated absences, and costs for pensions are expected to continue to rise. With revenues continuing to drop and costs increasing in some areas, the administration understands that, without increases to productivity and efficiency, services to the residents may suffer. RRRemembering Cpl. Matthetthetthew EdEdw wwwararards and Lt. Dan Kromeromeromer A Letter of Thanks from the Taylor Police Department The past months have been very troubling and emotional for While these losses are devastating for our department, I all of us at the Taylor Police Department. We lost our brother, remain proud of the men and women of the Taylor Police Cpl. Matthew Edwards, to a senseless tragedy. Then only Department and Taylor Auxiliary Police. weeks later, we lost Auxiliary Police Lt. Dan Kromer in These recent events have made us even more proud of the another act of violence. profession of law enforcement. Our fallen brothers died My deepest sympathy goes out to the families of Cpl. helping others. They are “heroes.” At Cpl. Edwards’ funeral Edwards and Lt. Kromer. I pray they find comfort from their service, it was said, “Hero is more than a word to us. It is a faith, family and friends during this difficult time. Please tribute given to those few who despite fear and despite continue to keep them in your prayers as well.