How to Remove an ‘800-pound Gorilla’?

Common Council proposes 10 percent tax increase

Margo Frink

(Oneida, Nov. 24, 2009) After the second of two special budget meetings, the Oneida Common Council proposed a 10 percent increase to the tax rate, approximately 3.8 percent to fund items cut from Mayor Peter Hedglon’s proposed budget and 6.2 percent to reduce the amount of money taken from the general fund. The vote was 3-2 with Councilors Marcia Rafte, Mike Murawski and Dan Jones in favor; Max Smith and Don Moore were the nay votes. Rob Brown was not in attendance.

On Monday, Nov. 23, day one of discussion, each department head sat down with the council one by one and read off cuts they had made to their respective budgets. Each councilor then made recommendations of items they felt should be restored to the budget. A list was compiled. Included on the list was sidewalk replacement at $30,000, a new crosswalk flasher on North Main Street by Vet’s Field at a cost of $6,000, two patrol cars at $58,000 and a new truck for animal control at $18,000, a new 15-passenger senior van at $35,000, the remaining money to build a barrier-free playground at Allen Park for $55,000 and a back flow prevention device at Chapman Pool for $4,500. At the end, $206,500 in budget cuts was placed on a list for discussion on day two.

The importance of each budget item was discussed at length by the Council. Members of the audience and city employees voiced their opinions and concerns about each item that was laid back on the table. In the end it was up to the council to decide which proposed budgeted items would remain and be put up for a vote on Dec. 8.

For Rafte it was all about public safety. She proposed the sidewalk program and patrol vehicles be placed into the budget as well as the back flow device for the pool, or a 3 percent tax increase. As for the senior van, Rafte said, “not every senior will use the van but every senior will have to pay for it.”

Moore on the other hand agreed on most of Rafte’s items but he made a motion that a new senior van is purchased and all the funds needed to operate it be placed in the 2010 budget. Moore’s proposal would mean at 5 percent tax rate increase. No one seconded his motion.

However, Craig Arnold and his mother, Helen, attended the meeting to urge the Common Council to keep the senior van program running. She said she uses the van to get to and from doctor appointments and hair appointments and that as a taxpayer she has paid her fair share of taxes over the years.

“I can’t imagine removal of that van,” Helen Arnold said. “I can’t tell you how necessary it is for us. I’m asking you folks to please consider us old folks. We need the van.”

Hedglon continued to stand behind what he’s been saying repeatedly, that the senior van is a “nicety” not a “necessity.”

“If you don’t cut it now when I take the heat for it, when will it be cut,” Hedglon said at Monday’s meeting. “I cut it out and I stand by it.”

Mayor-elect Leo Matzke disagreed with Hedglon and said that the council has to look at the bigger picture and that is to promote the city.

“I look at it as an investment in the city,” Matzke said, something he believed the city would see a return on. “More people will move into the city because they like what they see. It’s not a quality of life issue but a perception of what people outside the city coming in will see. “I support the van,” he said.

In the end, it was Jones’ proposal to amend the budget by adding the sidewalk program, the patrol vehicles, the animal control officer’s vehicle, and the backflow device for the pool and $2,500 for the Sherrill-Kenwood Library that will be up for vote on Dec. 8, a total of $113,000 or about a 3.8 percent tax increase.

But the increase did not end there. City Engineer Jim Bacher, who spoke as a citizen said he felt the council should take less money from the general fund balance or else they would be kicking themselves down the road.

“We need to get serious here,” Bacher said. “We are raiding the piggy bank. We’ve got to quit doing that.”

Bacher proposed the Council add 10 percent to the tax rate for the general fund. He also asked the Council to break it down into dollars and cents because people get “hung up” on percentages. He used his assessment for example and said he would be looking at about $200 a year more in taxes. Bacher said he is assessed at $194,000.

Matzke said he disagreed with Bacher 100 percent. He said that two-thirds of the families in the city have an income of $50,000 or less.

“It’s obvious you are going to have a tax increase but you are hitting a large group of people who are already trying to survive,” Matzke said. “That amount is outlandish.”

“Nobody likes a tax increase but I’m willing to save money not to spend it, if we take Bacher’s advice,” Rafte said.

Dave Cimpi wanted to know what kind of message the council was sending.

“We are spending money on the justice center, we bought a new fire truck but you also want to raise taxes to save money,” Cimpi said.

City Attorney Michel DeBottis appeared to be doing a little of his own math and laid a few dollar amounts out. He recited some figures that were suggested by Matzke earlier. He said that if the city’s median income was $53,000 and that homeowner owned a $75,000 to $80,000 house then their taxes are about $500 a year. A 10 percent tax increase would amount to less than $1 a week and 20 percent tax increase would amount to less than $2 a week, he said.

“But when the fund balance is gone as projected in four years, these same people are looking at a 47 percent tax increase or about $5 a week,” DeBottis said.

“As my mayor elect, I ask you to start thinking about what is going to happen when the train hits the wall,” DeBottis said. He told Matzke that if he thought otherwise then he was living in a fantasy world.

“I ask you to get off your political soapbox and do the math,” DeBottis said. He asked Matzke to allow the city a modest increase to remove what adds up to be an 800-pound gorilla.

By raising taxes an additional 6.2 percent for the general fund, it will decrease the amount taken from the general fund by $180,000, if the budget passes as amended.

The Common Council will meet again Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers.

Margo Frink is managing editor of the M3P Media, LLC. She can be reached at 315-363-4254 or 315-481-8732 or at Margo@m3pmedia.com.

How to Remove an ‘800-pound Gorilla’?

M3P Media LLC © 2009