City Faces Decrease in State Aid

Steady or increasing operating expenses, along with the rough economy and the prospect of less aid from the state, have City of Greenfield officials wringing their fiscal hands.

The trio of fiscal constraints has made and will continue to make annual budgeting a painstaking process in Greenfield, according to officials responsible for the city's annual budget. 

Milt Vandermeuse, the city finance director, described creating the 2011 budget as a "10" on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of difficulty. But both Vandermeuse and Mayor Michael Neitzke said Greenfield isn't the only municipality facing rough budgetary waters.

"It's not just the financial outlook of Greenfield, but the financial outlook of every municipality," Neitzke said. "In a time when you don't want taxes to go up because people cannot afford them and you still have to provide for protective services and you still have to provide a very small amount for the quality-of-life things like the libraries and parks, it's extremely difficult."

Greenfield's operating budget grew $173,000, marking less than a 1 percent increase from 2010. The city's total operating budget is $23,073,000 for 2011.

Governor-elect Scott Walker indicated, on the campaign trail, that state aid to municipalities will decrease during the next state-budget cycle. This puts all or a portion of the $3.5 million the city gets in state aid in jeopardy, according to Neitzke.

"It is pretty scary," Neitzke said. "If you look at our city, we've run things extremely conservatively for the last decade or more."

The mayor points out the city does not employ a city engineer or director of inspection. The city also outsources its garbage collection.

Of the roughly 200 city employees, 87 in the police department and another 57 in the fire department cannot be cut due to the maintenance of effort rule passed in 2009 as part of the state budget. The rule states that counties and municipalities must maintain the prior year's spending on emergency services or run the risk of having the Department of Revenue reduce payment of shared tax revenues from the state.

"If the state were, to say, cut all or a portion of that $3.5 million, dramatic things would happen in our city," Neitzke said. "Departments could close. We would just say that we don't do that anymore."

Widespread personnel cuts have been made throughout city departments during the past several years. From smaller increases in pay than expected to cuts in full-time employees, no department has gone unscathed, according to city officials.

City Alderman Karl Kastner, who has been a member of the Finance and Human Resources Committee since 2000, calls for the city "to do more with less."

"Just like (we) have to do at home and in private business, (we) have to change. We cannot stay stagnant on our thinking on how to do things," he said. "We either have to combine services with other municipalities that do the same thing or find ways to employ quality workers to get the job done in different ways."

Taxes will increase in 2011 by about 2.2 percent for homeowners. The tax rate for the city was $6.91 per one thousand dollars assessed in 2010. It will be $7.05 in 2011.

"The economy is not doing spectacularly well so revenues from normal growth aren't happening, and (our) tax base is being reduced as well," Vandermeuse said.

Vandermeuse added the City Council is aware of the ramifications that come along with a reduction in personnel, namely the likelihood the amount of services and programs will be adversely affected.

City officials and council members will begin to formally examine the 2012 budget this spring.

"I have already met with department heads, two weeks ago," Neitzke said. "We had a very forthright, honest discussion of the huge challenges that are going to face not only us, but everybody, in 2012."