2007 City Budget Info...

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Budget requests rise in OT for police
Story by DAVID SKOLNICK, CITY HALL REPORTER on 3/7/2007.

The city had a $1.21 million general fund surplus last year.

YOUNGSTOWN — The city's 2007 budget, to be considered for adoption today by city council, includes a 29-percent increase in overtime costs for police department employees.

After a quadruple killing in January, Mayor Jay Williams said the city needed to increase the police department's budget for overtime expenses in an effort to combat crime.

City officers along with the Ohio State Highway Patrol significantly increased its presence in Youngstown in the weeks after the deaths.

The Williams administration is asking council to approve $1.545 million for police overtime, a 29-percent increase from the $1.2 million spent on overtime in 2006.

City officials will monitor police overtime, but the extra money is vital for the police department to patrol, particularly in high-crime areas, Williams said.

The city's proposed 2007 general fund budget of $39.96 million is about 7 percent larger — about $2.8 million more — than the amount spent last year.

The city had a 2006 general fund surplus of $1.21 million. Its 2005 general fund surplus was $2.29 million.

The 2007 general fund's expenditures are estimated at $41.04 million. If all of the budgeted money and the surplus from last year is spent, the city would end 2007 with a $127,720 carry-over.

If 2006 is any indication, the city will spend less in 2007 than budgeted. The city had planned to spend $39.82 million last year, but actually spent $37.12 million.

Demolition program

Among the major expenses for the city this year is $1.525 million for its demolition program. The city spent $1.22 million last year to demolish about 400 structures, mostly vacant residential homes. The city also demolished two former schools.

The proposed 25-percent increase in demolitions this year would take down 400 blighted residential properties as well as two large commercial properties.

The city would spend about $100,000 to demolish the former Riverbend school building on Crescent Street on the city's northwest side and provide $75,000 to the Western Reserve Transit Authority toward its demolition the former Salvation Army building on the lower portion of Mahoning Avenue.

The city administration also wants to spend $500,000 to buy 70 acres near its 250-acre Salt Springs Road Industrial Park. The industrial park is at full capacity, and there are tenants interested in moving to the park if the 70 acres are acquired, said Finance Director David Bozanich.

The city is budgeting $900,000 for streetlighting costs, an increase of $264,000 from 2006 because of Ohio Edison's major increase for electricity, Bozanich said.

The city collected $48.7 million in income taxes in 2006 compared with $46.1 million in 2005. It expects to collect $52.1 million in income taxes this year. The city's income tax rate is 2.75 percent, the highest for a municipality in Ohio.

The city hired the Regional Income Tax Agency in mid-2005 to collect income taxes, a service previously done in-house.

Even though $2.6 million more was collected in 2006 compared with the previous year, RITA receives about $1 million of the total taxes collected through its agreement with the city, Bozanich said. RITA was formed in 1971 by a regional council of governments and provides income tax collection services for more than 100 communities.

The increased income tax amount is a combination of RITA aggressively pursuing those who don't pay the tax as well as an increase in employment and employees' salaries in the city, Bozanich said.

skolnick@vindy.com