By Ryan J. Stanton
The Bay City Times
BAY CITY, Mich. — Bay City officials have some difficult decisions to make when they meet at 6:30 p.m. today inside Room 306 of City Hall.
“It’s a very tough thing because we’re kind of pitted in the middle,” said Commissioner Kathleen Newsham, 8th Ward. “We’ve got the retirees on the left hand and the firefighters on the right hand and I don’t know what the happy medium is going to be.”
This week’s Finance and Policy Committee meeting was pushed back three days to give commissioners extra time to consider their options. One includes cutting into the fire department and laying off up to six firefighters to make up for a large deficit in the 2009-10 general fund budget.
Another option involves switching retiree health care coverage to a new plan under NEBCO Inc., which city officials said last month would save $728,000. Retirees have raised concerns over the level of coverage NEBCO would provide compared to their current Blue Cross Blue Shield plans. Even with the switch, the city must lay off two firefighters to cut costs.
Commission President Christopher J. Shannon, 1st Ward, said he’s holding firm to his position that the city must cut into the fire department’s budget and lay off six firefighters. He ma de a motion to do that at last week’s City Commission meeting, but it failed to get a majority support.
“I don’t see any other option at this point,” Shannon said. “I think it would be imprudent under the circumstances to draw down the fund balance any further.”
Shannon said the city faces other looming budget challenges due to losses in state revenue sharing, a dwindling population, declines in water and sewer revenues, and a General Motors tax appeal that could cost the city $824,000 a year in tax revenues.
Commissioner Kellie J. Snyder, 9th Ward, said cutting six firefighters doesn’t even begin to address the budget challenges coming the city’s way in the years ahead.
“Everything’s on the table right now when you look at the possible reduction in revenue from GM, plus the additional $1.5 million we’re going to look at next year when Hampton Township taps into the Bay County sewer system,” she said. “So we can’t take it year by year anymore. We have to make some very tough decisions that address our budget shortfalls for this year and the year after.”
Newsham voted against Shannon’s proposal last week to lay off firefighters. She said she’s curious to see if any firefighters in the department who are eligible for retirement are willing to hang up their hats to “save the jobs of their union brothers.”
Commissioner Kevin Novellino, 2nd Ward, said he’s expecting sparks to fly as commissioners make another push to lay off firefighters tonight.
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