City Beat: Public gives final input on stripped-down budget

Three people spoke on the $255 million budget, which has been cut by $5.2 million in order to contribute the full actuarial recommendation to the Police and Fire Pension Fund.

Mayor Tom Carlson said the pension fund needs the additional money because it’s a defined benefit plan, meaning that retirees get the same payout regardless of the amount paid in and the amount that money earns when it is invested.

“If the earnings in the fund are inadequate, the citizens have to pay for it,” Carlson said at the council meeting. “That’s why in the private sector, these defined benefit plans have gone the way of the dinosaur. As a practical matter, they don’t exist any more.”

Springfield citizen Fred Ellison recommended that the city ask for a 1 percent sales tax to fully fund the pension plan.

“After listening to all of the discussion, talking to the (Police and Fire) unions and the pension board, I don’t see any way around it,” said Ellison, who has attended several budget hearings. “We need to have a long-term, permanent solution to the pension fund crisis. We don’t need a Band-Aid – we have a gaping wound that needs to be stitched and healed.”

Mayor Carlson said he’s been amazed by the amount of public input on the budget and added that he felt the city needs to do its homework before asking for a pay raise.

“There’s been talk about refinancing debt, selling property, modifying the pension fund in some way, some kind of privatization, or a tax increase,” Carlson said of ideas submitted by the public. “All of these ideas will get attention, because I don’t think the public would ever support any solution until it can be shown that the council and the administration has considered all the options and shown why something has been accepted or rejected.”

Council is expected to vote on the budget at its May 19 meeting.

Rezoning faux pas

Council also considered a rezoning request for nearly seven acres on South Lone Pine Avenue, near the quarry owned by Ash Grove Cement Co. and mined by Conco Cos.

Sam Coryell Jr. told council he wants to develop a $10.5 million, 144-unit apartment complex on the site.

But the rezoning request hit a snag when it was run through the city’s new multifamily zoning matrix.

The system, approved by council in August, offers a guideline for city staff when considering the appropriate density for a new development. Pieces of property are assigned points based on neighborhood compatibility, land-use accessibility, connectivity, existing roads and design guidelines for the proposed development.

Staff originally told Coryell that 144 units were appropriate for the property based on city calculations. Staff later realized that it had miscalculated; according to the matrix, the land only should have 96 units.

Both staff and the Planning and Zoning Commission, however, said that the extra units would not have much impact on the area and recommended approval of the proposal.

That did not sit well with Carlson.

“Saying, ‘Well, we messed up on the arithmetic, so we’re going to approve your development,’ to me, is not sufficient justification,” he said at the meeting.

Coryell asked council to remember that the new system does not set the zoning requirements in stone.

“The matrix is a guide; it’s not an exact science,” Coryell said.

Council also could vote on that proposal May 19.[[In-content Ad]]