The city of Springfield continues to face painful decisions relating to this month's failed pension sales tax proposal, and the situation is worsened by shrinking overall sales tax revenues.
City Manager Greg Burris told Springfield City Council on Feb. 9 that city staff is working on revisions to the proposed 1-cent sales tax to fund the nearly $200 million shortfall in the Police and Fire Pension Plan, though citizens will not be asked to vote on it again in June as Burris had previously stated.
"Following the defeat of the sales tax referendum ... I said we would bring the tax back to the citizens in June or August ... but I'm not going to recommend that we come back in June," Burris told council. "The reason is that in order to come back in June, we would have to have an alternate proposal to you in March, and that's not enough time for us to collect public feedback ... which we're very sincere in wanting to do."
He said city staff is considering both formal and informal methods of collecting citizen input, ranging from a citizen committee or focus group to a possible citizen survey. "We're not sitting back and singing woe; we're planning action," Burris said. "We're just taking a step back and looking at what we should do next before moving forward."
Burris then presented the latest sales tax figures. After receiving its February sales tax check, which gives the city eight months of fiscal 2009 data, the city is 1.87 percent behind its fiscal 2008 revenue. While the current year's budget was based on projected sales tax growth of 3 percent, Burris said hiring freezes implemented in July and again in January put the city in a position to handle the shortage.
"We're holding the line on spending. Couple that with the fact that some of our other revenue sources are holding stable, and we feel we're positioned to address the current year's budget at this point," Burris said, adding that March's sales tax check will be more significant because it includes the end of the holiday season as well as businesses that pay sales tax quarterly.
Wayfinding program
Council also approved a $334,488 bid from Michigan-based Valley City Sign Inc. to fabricate more than 120 signs in and around Springfield to direct visitors to high-traffic destinations.
The project, funded by the N-cent capital improvements sales tax, has been in the works for several years; council heard a presentation about the program in November 2005. City Public Works Director Marc Thornsberry told council that the bid to create the signs came in about $100,000 below the engineer's estimates.
City staff says sign installations - not included in the bill approved last week - would bring total costs to roughly $600,000.
Councilwoman Cindy Rushefsky, who voted for the signs, said the city's financial crisis should not prevent spending on worthwhile projects.
"Right now, it's almost a reflex to say, 'Don't spend, don't spend,'" Rushefsky said. "We're so anxious to save pennies that in the end, we're going to lose the dollars. This is the time that we need to protect ... all of those people who depend on tourists to spend money, generate income, generate jobs and protect the jobs that are here. We have to use some common sense about our spending, of course, but we have to use some common sense about our saving as well."
Not all council members were convinced. Three, including Councilman Doug Burlison, voted against the bill. Burlison said that even though the money does not come from the city's general fund, the current economic situation means the city must look much more carefully at all spending.
"We as a city are in a position where we need to be looking at what is a core function of our job and what is not," Burlison said. "I personally don't believe that a wayfinding system like this is a core function."
Signs could begin going up by early 2010.[[In-content Ad]]
