Tomlinson presents $270 million city budget to council

Mayor Teresa Tomlinson said Tuesday that her proposed fiscal 2017 budget would be the first in 16 years to not dip into reserves to balance the budget. The proposed budget is $270 million, up from the current $265.7 million.

In addition to not taking from the reserves, Tomlinson said her budget would add back four days of operation to the fund, which has dipped to 56 days, below the cutoff point at which the city’s bond rating is at risk.

Tomlinson presented the proposed budget to Columbus Council at its regular business meeting.

“Firstly, and I think proudly so, for the first time in 16 years, this recommended budget uses no reserve funds to balance the budget,” Tomlinson said.

Tomlinson said policy reforms involving the city’s pension plan, health-care system and worker’s compensation program instituted in her first five years in office are starting to pay off.

In addition to replenishing the reserves, Tomlinson’s proposed budget includes a 2 percent cost-of-living raise for all city employees. Tomlinson’s previous budgets have included .5 percent raises, except for fiscal 2013 and 2014, when she proposed 2.5 percent each year. But that extra was to make up for shifting a portion of the cost of city pensions over to the employees instead of the city funding it fully.

But the news isn’t all good.

“This year we are providing our employees a 2 percent COLA, yet this increase will largely absorbed the off-set of rising healthcare costs,” Tomlinson’s budget letter states.

The employee health insurance plan will still be split 70-30, with the city paying the larger share.

The budget also includes police pay reform designed to enhance recruitment and retention of officers. It would raise police salaries over time and give guaranteed raises at five-year intervals, over and above regular COLAs. The budget also proposes using FY16 police department salary savings to be given to all sworn police officers in the form of $1,200 bonuses.

Tomlinson, as she had earlier said she would do, included a fully funded Columbus Aquatic Center, with a $1.24 million budget that will keep the facility open for 89 hours a week.

To make up the $416,000 difference between the former aquatic center funding ($826,000) and the proposed budget of $1.24 million, the mayor proposes:

▪ Raising $200,000 by increasing after-school program fees. It would maintain the sliding scale, which gives breaks to lower-income parents, but would raise the fee $4 per child per week.

▪ Raising $24,000 by increasing user fees at Cooper Creek Tennis Center.

▪ Raising $50,000 by increasing user fees on all athletic groups not currently paying user fees. The increase would be $10 per individual player.

▪ Raising $100,000 in projected additional revenue from the center through improved programming and “innovative partnerships with engaged stakeholders.”

Tomlinson recognized that several councilors have in the past strongly opposed raising fees on youth sports.

“Before, this has met with a lot of opposition, and I think that’s understandable,” she said. “But I don’t know how we discern increasing after-school fees, tennis fees and all these other fees and not adjust fees for currently non-paying athletic group, especially when it’s fairly negligible, $10 per player per season.”

The budget also includes funding for 33 new garbage trucks through a $2 a month increase in the Integrated Waste fee.

The city’s fleet of garbage and recycling trucks is aging to the point that the vast majority of them are well beyond their effective use age.

Councilors offered no commentary on the presentation, but will start the deliberation process on May 3 at 2 p.m. in council chambers.

Council will hold meetings as the Budget Review Committee during May and early June before holding public hearings on the finalized budget, which must be approved by June 30, the end of fiscal 2016.

Recommendations approved

In other action, councilors unanimously approved City Manager Isaiah Hugley’s recommendations of Angelica Alexander to be the new Finance director and John Hudgison to be the new Inspections and Code director.

This story was originally published April 26, 2016 at 6:46 PM with the headline "Tomlinson presents $270 million city budget to council."