Fort Smith administrator seeking money for city raises

FORT SMITH -- City Administrator Carl Geffken said Tuesday that he won't find enough money in the proposed 2017 general fund budget to give employees a 1 percent cost-of-living raise by the time city directors vote on the budget Dec. 20.

In the final budget meeting Monday night, seven Fort Smith city directors asked Geffken to try to find the $275,000 in the proposed general fund budget to give employees a raise.

The proposed general fund budget is balanced, totaling more than $41.5 million next year, but city officials say the margin between revenue and expenses is just $46,000.

Geffken said he couldn't find any excess money in the general fund without conducting an in-depth analysis of how many employees the city could spare and whether there is any wasteful spending.

That analysis would take more than the two weeks directors have given him, he said. He said he believed the directors should pass the budget and allow him and the city staff to conduct the staffing and spending analyses early next year.

In a lengthy discussion Monday, the directors expressed disappointment that there was not enough money in the general fund to give city employees raises.

Most city employees, including police and fire, are paid out of the general fund. Personnel costs account for 71 percent of that budget.

Revenue for the general fund is expected to stay stagnant next year and for 2018, Finance Director Jennifer Walker reported Monday.

In their discussion, city directors tried without success to find budgeted expenses to cut.

City Director Tracy Pennartz suggested cutting educational incentives for employees. City Director George Catsavis responded that cutting the incentives would trigger a "mass exodus" of city employees.

Some departments could be "top heavy," City Director Andre Good said, and could stand to have some supervisory positions cut. He also wondered if parking meters downtown could be eliminated and, with them, the employees who maintain them.

Pennartz said she saw only three ways to find money for raises: by cutting staff, cutting overtime or instituting furloughs.

Geffken said major reductions in staff would require a reduction in services the city offers to residents. He also said he found it difficult to consider firing staff in order to give raises.

The overtime budget in the proposed general fund budget for next year is $2.3 million, Geffken said, but he hesitated to consider cutting overtime. He said, for example, police patrol positions that have been offered but as yet unfilled require existing officers to work overtime to keep the patrol beats at full strength.

The directors also discussed a proposal by Geffken given at their first budget meeting last week that included three additional revenue sources that could bring in an estimated $1.7 million to the general fund.

They were:

• A business license fee. The city would charge $150 for a Fort Smith business or $10 per employee for a business with more than 25 employees, with a maximum charge of $5,000. The license fee was estimated to generate $1.07 million a year.

• A franchise fee increase for electricity, cable, natural gas, video and telephone utilities that would generate an estimated $522,000 a year.

• A water/sewer fund franchise fee, similar to the city's existing franchise fee, that would raise an estimated $100,000 a year.

The proposal stated that the additional revenue could pay for the cost-of-living raise for employees, the purchase of a truck and backup radio system for the Fire Department, an additional $350,000 contribution to the police and fire pension fund and two trucks for the building safety office.

But the directors rejected the proposal, under which businesses and utilities would simply pass on their costs to the consumers. City Director Keith Lau said the tax burden on Fort Smith residents is heavy enough without adding more charges.

Several directors agreed, saying they had been getting complaints from residents about taxes and fees.

Some of the complaints were about sewer bills that have increased twice in the past two years and are scheduled to increase again in January by 25 percent.

The rates are being increased to finance government-mandated improvements to the city's sewer system in a consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice that is estimated to cost the city $480 million over 12 years.

State Desk on 12/11/2016

Upcoming Events