By Bill Brown
Buffalo News (New York)
Copyright 2007 The Buffalo News
All Rights Reserved
BATAVIA, N.Y. — With a public hearing on the city’s 2007-2008 budget only eight days away, City Council members say they are frustrated on how to reduce $23.7 million in spending and a hefty 23 percent increase in the property tax.
The stumbling block is what Council members believe are excessive overtime expenses in the Fire Department.
The department’s proposed budget is $5.35 million, which is 21 percent of the tentative municipal spending plan. That includes $200,000 in overtime for firefighters and $285,000 for ambulance personnel.
Overall, the budget fashioned by new City Manager Jason R. Molino is $1 million higher than current spending. That and the largest property tax increase in several years are expected to trigger a contentious public hearing next Monday.
Both Fire Chief Larry L. Smith and Molino have told the Council there is little the city can do to hold down overtime costs because of union contracts.
These were negotiated in better days, but now the city faces a $3 million deficit in operating costs for the past three years.
In the Fire Department and, to a lesser extent, the Police and Public Works departments, contracted minimum staffing limits plus time off for sickness, personal days and vacations contribute to overtime.
Molino told the Council a week ago that efforts to modify the contract had failed and that any attempt to change conditions would likely lead to legal action.
Potential solutions are a part-paid, part-volunteer department, a switch that at least two similar Western New York cities have taken, and eliminating or reducing the ambulance service, which now serves rural areas and is losing money.
The budget must be adopted by April 1. A year ago, a divided Council passed a budget at a special meeting two days before the deadline. It carried a 5 percent property tax increase. The new proposed rate of $9.54 per $1,000 assessed valuation would cost most homeowners $50 to $200 per year.