Columbia city manager says he made tough cuts in 2018 budget
While no city employees will have to lose their jobs during this budget round, Columbia city manager Mike Matthes said Friday he had to make some difficult decisions on where to cut money in order to balance the FY 2018 budget.
Sales tax revenue was at its lowest since the recession. According to projections from the city, the growth will only be about 1 percent. Last year it was 1.75 and in 2015 it was 2.14 percent.
Matthes said there’s more “bad news than good” for this budget. He recommended three city departments make more than $1 million in cuts. The IT, Community Relations and Maintenance departments lowered their spending by up to 10 percent. Maintenance eliminated three vacant jobs.
The city will also continue its 45-day hiring freeze that started in 2016. This does not apply to the police and fire departments.
Matthes is recommending continuing to civilianize certain jobs within the police department. He said they hope to move four sworn officers back to patrol and replace them with either civilians or retired officers. According to Matthes, this will cut that pay in half and there is money in the budget for $200,000 for those civilian salaries.
That will leave one open spot each in the Public Relations and Evidence units. Two spots will open up in Training and Recruitment.
The officers will not be filling the 16 vacancies the department currently has, but they will be taking on an added role to increase the numbers of officers on patrol. The department is completing a background check for 14 candidates for 16 of the vacancies at the moment, but there’s no guarantee they’ll all make it through the full recruitment process.
“We don’t have a problem attracting people,” said Matthes. “We have far more people apply than we can hire but we do have a very strict hiring rubric.”
He said Friday they were looking into ways to relax the strict requirements which include having a college degree. He said they were thinking about possibly accepting officers with just a high school diploma.
“That enables us to capture veterans returning from Afghanistan who don’t have the college but are clearly experienced and capable,” he said. “Right now we have that barrier that keeps them from applying.
There’s still no doubt that public safety, including the fire department, needs more money. With the sales tax revenue no longer a viable funding option, Matthes recommended pushing for new ballot measures for funding, including fast-tracking a use tax for the November ballot.
A use tax is a sales tax on purchases made outside someone’s state of residence on taxable items that will be used in that state of residence. Voters approved a use tax on cars and boats last year.
“The use tax, what it does, is say that you can’t avoid sales tax,” said Matthes. “You either pay the sales tax or you pay the use tax. It creates this incentive to shop local.”
The use tax will be on the city council’s agenda for consideration next month.
Matthes also suggested the city look into raising property taxes.
“It’s true and it’s probably shocking that the city government doesn’t charge much more than the library does in property tax,” he said.
The Boone County Library District charges about 30 cents per year and the city charges 41 cents.
City councilman Michael Trapp said Friday he supports a use tax and the recommended property tax increase.
“The city manager pulled a rabbit out of the hat by civilianizing (sic) some positions to free up sworn officers for patrol but their are limits to that approach and our needs are great,” he said in an email Friday. “How much of an increase and what we do with it needs more public input.”
There will also be a recommendation to eliminate three public transit routes and increase paratransit fares by $1. Matthes said Friday transit costs are “burning through cash” and continue to exceed revenue by $600,000.
There will be several public hearings on the proposed budget. The first will be on Aug. 21.
You can find the proposed budget for 2018 here.
