Alderwoman Kliejunas suggests Sheboygan resolve to be financially smart in 2010

You may have been asked for your 2010 New Year’s resolution in the last few weeks. This can be too personal a question, but people presume the right to ask at this time of year.

I am more interested in the answers this year because I don’t sense the usual euphoria or anticipation of other years, and I want to know what motivates others to face 2010.

For the city of Sheboygan, I propose that we resolve to get smarter this year and establish a City Services Priorities list similar to one the county did a few years ago.

In 2009, Sheboygan anticipated revenue shortfalls for 2010 due to reductions in state funding, along with lower property tax collections, and weak business growth. These revenue shortfalls were compounded by simultaneous cost increases for garbage dumping fees, employee health insurance premiums, and previously negotiated salary agreements.

Because personnel costs consume approximately 85 percent of the city budget, the Common Council focused on reducing personnel costs by laying off more than 30 people and leaving unfilled some city positions created by retirements and military leave. During the last quarter of 2009, designated Council members participated in marathon labor negotiations in an effort to save some jobs through union concessions, but by the end of the year, many veteran employees had lost their jobs.

I realize that many people have unfortunately lost their jobs in Sheboygan in the past few years. I face these people every day at The Salvation Army as they come for food assistance or help with their late utility bills. My concern is that the city has not established a City Services Priorities list that would rank city services in their order of importance to the tax-paying public. This list would establish which city services should be eliminated first, second, third, etc., during tough economic times. And the list would help avoid future decisions like the city’s unpopular attempt last fall to close the drop-off site.

Specifically, the Council needs to establish the relative importance of snowplowing, garbage collection, safe housing and park maintenance versus the importance of police and fire protection. How much police and fire protection do we need or want – what’s our standard? Is the standard based on national or state guidelines, or what the taxpayers are willing to pay? With public input, the Council must identify both the quantity and quality of city services to city residents.

Setting a City Services Priorities list is not easy, and it would take lots of listening, study and political will to accomplish, but the city budgeting process needs all the help it can get. Establishing priorities on city services would help the Common Council and city department heads to plan and use city resources more wisely throughout the year, avoiding draconian cuts which appear to some as unfair.

Ain’t so?