Middletown budget plight
Printed From: MiddletownUSA.com
Category: Middletown City Government
Forum Name: City Manager
Forum Description: Discuss the city manager administration including all city departments.
URL: http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6398
Printed Date: Nov 25 2024 at 1:02am
Topic: Middletown budget plight
Posted By: Vivian Moon
Subject: Middletown budget plight
Date Posted: Dec 24 2016 at 9:09am
Middletown budget plight could spur
layoffs, city manager says
Mike
Rutledge Staff Writer 11:38
a.m. Friday, Dec. 23, 2016 http://www.journal-news.com/community/middletown" rel="nofollow - The city of Adkins announced
belt-tightening moves, including leaving vacant positions open until at least
June. If things don’t improve, layoffs are possible, he told the city’s elected
officials this week. http://www.journal-news.com/services/products/faqs/" rel="nofollow - Because of the higher
health-care costs, the council approved transfer of $1.25 million from the
city’s general fund — essentially, its checking account that is used for most
purposes — to the city’s employee benefits fund, a month after City Council
approved the 2017 general-fund spending plan of $30.3 million. That $1.25
million will serve as a loan to that fund. It follows a $750,000 transfer last
year to the same fund. During the Great
Recession, as a way to avoid layoffs, the city decided to self-insure for
health care, and that worked out well, Adkins said. “With the exception of
2013, we kept our spending flat on health care,” he said, “which means even
though health-care costs were going up 6-, 8-, 10 percent, we did not increase
the amount of money we were spending on health care.” “This worked fine when we
had low-claims years, and at the end of ‘14, we had a positive balance of $1.2
million in that fund,” Adkins said. “It worked for a while.” In 2015, “We saw dramatic
increases in health-care claims from our covered employees,” he said. “Because
we are a smaller group, we have volatility — we have up years, we have down
years.” Adkins said city
administrators assumed 2015’s high-cost level “was a blip in the radar,” when
the general fund last year loaned the $750,000. The city adjusted health-care
plans and premiums in an effort to stabilize the fund, so that loan could be
repaid. Then, Adkins said, “2016
comes, and claims have substantially increased over 2015 levels. We have seen
multiple cancer claims, premature babies, and new serious chronic conditions in
2016 that we simply have not seen in the last 10-15 years.” “The good news is that our
employees and their families were covered during catastrophic times,” he said.
“The bad news, however, is not only have we not been able to pay back the
$750,000 that we borrowed in 2015, you now need another $1.25 million to end
the year at $0 in the health-care fund, which means we are $2 million in the
hole.” The 2017 budget, which
council approved in 2017, assumes 2016 expenses are “the new normal,” he said.
A city health-care committee has cut coverage and increased premiums to save
and generate about $150,000 toward repaying the general fund. Salary and
benefits that http://www.journal-news.com/news/local/middletown-public-safety-director-retire/TLYjIt7QOFF1msTj8dirzJ/" rel="nofollow - would have earned — he’s retiring Jan.
6 — plus some other expenses will be trimmed to cut costs. “I am putting a hold on
all of the new positions we had budgeted for 2017, until at least June 30,”
Adkins said, saying that can save $120,000. In all, Adkins has found $613,000
in cost savings to help with the $2 million gap. “In 2017 — I’ve already
talked to the department heads — our policy will be any turned-over position
will remain vacant for 90 days,” Adkins said. “I reserve the right,
respectfully, to not do that if there’s something that’s critical.” Plus, there was a $400,000
claim that was paid that the city is appealing, with hopes of being reimbursed
for that amount, Adkins said. He hopes to be able to
repay $1 million of the $2 million in loans, and promised to report quarterly
on the situation to his bosses on council “so we don’t let this get far away in
2017.” If the situation worsens,
premiums can be changed, and, “there are things that we can do, all the way up
to laying people off,” he said. “This is the best plan that we could put together
for you tonight.” Over the next few years,
the city will have to carefully manage the health-care program, he said. “We can always get more
aggressive,” he added. “It means probably laying people off, if you want to get
it done faster than that.” |
Replies:
Posted By: Richard Saunders
Date Posted: Dec 25 2016 at 1:06am
| Strange. One day he's leasing more office space due to needing more municipal staff. The next day he's talking about laying off staff. |
Posted By: What A City
Date Posted: Dec 25 2016 at 1:00pm
Good point. We never did get an explanation as to why the need to lease additional office space is needed when the city owns the old Seniors building right next to the city building that could house the overflow. How about it Mr. Adkins. For a second time.....why can't the city use the old Seniors Center for city employee overflow rather than to pad the pockets of another owner and save the taxpayer some lease money as well? While on the subject of the potential to downsize the city employee numbers, why is it always a catastrophe to think about such things when downsizing happens in the private sector all the time? Why is it taboo for a public sector person to lose their job but is taken with a grain of salt when hundreds of private sector people are thrown out of work? As in any private sector company, there are layers of useless management that could be eliminated and I know for a fact that the same thing holds true for any city, state or fed level government hierarchy. I am sure that you can do without a Director, Manager and Supervisor in any department, especially when the department has only five worker bees, I would imagine that the management to worker ratio is way out of line in most departments in the city building, just as it is in Columbus and certainly in Washington. I see the over hiring waste everyday at WPAFB. Here's a question for you Mr. Adkins......IF a downsizing takes place in your city building, how many losing their jobs will be in positions lower than management and how many will be managers? You can downsize one manager and save three worker's jobs. The three downsizing events I have been involved in threw workers out on the street while most of the managers got to keep their high-paying jobs drinking coffee, going to meetings, passing information up and down the ladder and deciding not to decide until the next worthless meeting. Gotta protect the old high roller buddy system at all cost. I see no value in keeping multi-layer managers who do little for the bottom line. The days of three level VP's, Directors, Assistant Directors, Managers and Asst Managers should have been over many years ago.
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Richard Saunders wrote:Posted By: spiderjohn
Date Posted: Dec 28 2016 at 4:23pm
|
A very difficult situation A lifetime as a business owner dealing with health insurance tells me that the current negative balance trend will probably continue as the existing employees age and premiums/medical costs skyrocket. I wouldn't expect a return to the black anytime soon. You unfortunately have to don the black hat, and request a seriously increased employee contribution, increase in deductible, elimination of family plan, elimination of vision/dental or go in to the market(hopefully improved when Trump takes over--nothing will happen quickly). Then you have the issue of two mill $$$ "borrowed" from the general fund. What are the current plans for "re-payment" of taxpayer $$?? Not an enviable position/situation with probably no warm fuzzy solution. We ALL want to be with admin working towards a better, happier, successful community for EVERYONE. Outside of a tax increase, how can we help? And could we please have a serious decrease in emergency legislation? Better planning and a more straightforward approach to citizens might be a start. Only real emergencies instead of convenience. |
Posted By: Vivian Moon
Date Posted: Dec 30 2016 at 11:11am
|
Spider Hmmm…How is this news? Them boys at City Hall have known for 10 years that this payroll/benefit package was unsustainable and breaking the bank. |
Posted By: whistlersmom
Date Posted: Dec 30 2016 at 7:43pm
| Council, you had plenty of money for an unwarranted 20% raise for Dougie. You had money to buy unneeded real estate on Hook Drive. You had money to lease unneeded office space (you had the senior citizens building) for the unnecessary new people Dougie wants to hire. Two days after passing the emergency legislation to lease office space, you learn there is no money to pay for the health insurance claims (the city is unwisely self-insured), and Dougie says he may need to reduce the number of city employees (no need for the leased space). Council, when are you going to realize that the emergency legislation to get the lease in place before the lack of money was known, was nothing less than a con job? If this is allowed to go on, council should be held personally liable for the wasted money for the lease. Council gets rid of any quality of life assets (Bicentennial Commons, Sebald Park, swimming pools, golf course, etc.) because they claim that they can’t afford them. But they can funnel money to their downtown cronies, even if they can’t pay the city’s bills. |
Posted By: Analytical
Date Posted: Dec 31 2016 at 7:56am
| 2017 Prediction #1: might Mr. Atkins move on to a more stable, less challenging municipality than Middletown now that he has a couple of years of city management experience under his belt plus an enhanced salary/compensation package? Would he be better suited to Mason-like communities instead of a multi-challenged, troubled Middletown? Food for thought. |
Posted By: spiderjohn
Date Posted: Dec 31 2016 at 9:33am
|
well--the guy inherited a tough situation(although he was a very familiar part of it prior). we have spent enough years and finger power here spreading the word. might be time to simply find something positive that we like, and help the guy to make it all better. It's not like anyone else really wants the job. OK mr.A----we can move in to 2017 together being optimistic and upwardly mobile. Keep an open and tough skin and tell us what you REALLY want/need from us. Maybe we can unite and deliver. Maybe not---but no real good reason it shouldn't happen. The MUSA crowd knows the town and cares. Obviously Council, admin and you care enough to provide leadership. If we listen and trust each other it can work. https://youtu.be/9HyhqeWoEuo |
Posted By: Vivian Moon
Date Posted: Dec 31 2016 at 11:34am
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...and the answer is..... "Adkins also said |