Budget cuts delayed

DUNKIRK — There was plenty of talk but no action in a meeting called to discuss budget cuts for 2011.
Council members spent more than an hour Wednesday tossing around ideas and listening to suggestions, before deciding to table action until the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance completes its review of the city’s original budget plan.
The DLGF is expected to issue its findings in February concerning whether the city’s proposed $1.6 million budget for 2011 will stand as advertised or need to be reduced because anticipated tax revenue will not support it, city clerk-treasurer Jane Kesler said.
She pointed out that in February she was notified by Jay and Blackford County auditors that the city would be receiving about $60,000 less in tax revenue for the 2010 year than originally anticipated. Council representative Judy Garr said this same sort of thing could happen next year.
Ailesia Franklin, a resident who is considering a run for Dunkirk Clerk-Treasurer next year, said city officials should delay cuts until further review by state officials. She said that otherwise the city might authorize budget cuts first, and the state may mandate more budget cuts later.
Recommending that the budget-cutting discussions be tabled for Wednesday night, councilman Eric Bowler said he favored taking “a long, hard look” before making any decisions. “I’m not going to make a decision tonight to cut anyone’s job.”
Bowler continued, “We’re not broke. We have the money.”
However, councilman Chuck Rife countered, “No, we don’t. I think we ought to consider everything. … We know we’re not going to have the money we had in previous years.”
Another budget-cutting option discussed at Wednesday’s meeting called for changing the city personnel policy so employees would not be compensated for unused vacation or personal days accumulated at the end of each year. A policy of “use it or lose it,” could be adopted.
Several law enforcement officials urged the council to carefully consider before cutting Dunkirk’s full-time police dispatching operation.
Jay County Sheriff Ray Newton, Redkey Town Marshal Donnie James and Dunkirk Police Chief Dane Mumbower all cautioned the city council to give careful consideration to any budget-cutting proposal that would involve downsizing or eliminating the city’s 24-hour police dispatcher service. This idea had been floated previously by council members.
 “Don’t think you can do this overnight,” Newton said, noting that the Jay County Sheriff’s Department could take over all the dispatching services in the county, but planning and preparation would be needed.
“I just hope you can keep the dispatchers, and I hope you can stick with the fire department (arrangement of having a full-time firefighter on duty at the fire station to help support the volunteers), too,” Newton said.
Eliminating the city’s three full-time firefighter positions has also been suggested as a way to trim the Dunkirk city budget. Dunkirk Fire Chief Farrel Wells was also present at Wednesday’s meeting.
James told the council he appreciates Dunkirk dispatchers handling calls for Redkey police.
Giving the most-lengthy presentation at Wednesday night’s meeting was Dunkirk Police Chief Dane Mumbower.
“There’s a lot of things that would have to be worked out,” Mumbower said. Without dispatchers, the Dunkirk police station would be left unmanned for long periods of time, and this would present problems concerning the security of equipment and access to the office by the public.
He said incidents are often reported in person in the middle of the night. If the station wasn’t open and manned 24 hours, this would no longer be possible.
“Before a decision is made, I want everyone to consider all the benefits of having local dispatchers,” Mumbower said.
He said it would be impractical for officers on duty to answer calls from the public directly via cell phone.
On the subject of cost cutting, saving money in the parks department by closing down the city pool or hiring a private contractor to mow the park lawn was also discussed.
“I don’t want to cut jobs or close the pool,” Bowler said.
“I’ll fight it!” Johnson said about the idea of closing the city swimming pool.
“I haven’t said anything about closing the pool,” Mayor Ron Hunt responded.
Council president Rife added, “We can keep talking about the budget and say we don’t need to do anything, but we do.”
Hunt said he thought everyone should study the situation further in anticipation of making budget cuts in February in line with what state officials finally decide to do.
“I think we just need to look through this (budget) again, and have ideas ready for consideration in February,” the mayor added, just prior to adjourning Wednesday night’s meeting.
Prior to the open meeting on the budget, the council met in executive (closed) session for an hour to discuss employee job performances with no action being taken on that subject either.
 
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