By Mark Schaaf
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
GREENFIELD, Wis. — As the clock struck midnight on one contentious evening, the Greenfield Common Council remained deadlocked on the city’s 2010 budget proposal.
The central issue was whether to fill one police officer and three firefighter positions left out of Mayor Michael Neitzke’s initial budget proposal. The issue was complicated by the fact the city had since found an extra $120,000, thanks to lower-than-expected health insurance rates for city employees.
The battle over what to do with that money finally ended about 12:15 a.m. Nov. 12, nearly five hours after the council convened Nov. 11 to discuss a $22.9 million budget.
In the end, the council narrowly approved that budget, which includes the three firefighter positions as well as four unpaid furlough days for most city employees and a 3.7 percent property tax levy increase. The police officer position was left vacant.
Concerns about the future
Aldermen Karl Kastner and Tom Pietrowski, who voted against the budget, made it known they weren’t entirely confident the city could safely afford to spend the newly realized insurance savings.
Kastner, calling it a “sustainability issue,” said the city would not be able to afford to pay those firefighters and police officer past 2010, which could mean layoffs next year.
Pietrowski and city Finance Director Milt Vandermeuse said they supported putting the $120,000 into the city’s reserves and revisit the staffing issue when the city’s revenue becomes more certain.
Bowing to public safety
But support for filling the positions eventually won out when Alderwomen Shirley Saryan, Linda Lubotsky and Pam Akers voted in favor of the budget.
“I think this is what most citizens would want,” Saryan said of adding the public safety positions.
Police Chief Francis Springob said his department has been staffed with 38 officers since 2006 after having 40 prior to that. He pointed to a Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance study, which showed Greenfield spends less per capita on police service than every other Milwaukee County community except for Whitefish Bay and South Milwaukee.
“Should the proposed budget stand, we would return to the yesterday staffing level of 1998 while facing today’s challenges of increased crime, increased calls for service and heightened expectations of our citizens,” Springob told the council.
Fire Chief Russ Spahn, Public Works Superintendent Dan Ewert and union presidents also pleaded with the council to either add staffing or at least not trim manpower any further.
Lubotsky tried and failed to pass numerous amendments to the budget which would have added all four public safety positions. As a sort of compromise, an amendment adding only the firefighters passed.
A smaller budget overall
The 2010 budget cuts overall spending by $196,000 compared to last year, in part because the city eliminated six positions in 2009.
The tax rate is $6.91 per $1,000 of assessed property value, meaning a person owning a $200,000 home would pay $1,382 for the city’s portion of the tax bill.
Copyright 2009 Journal Sentinel Inc.