Proposed city budget ready for public comment

At Tuesday’s luncheon, council agreed on where to cut $5.2 million from general revenue expenditures in the fiscal 2009 budget, which totals $255 million. The cuts are needed to meet the actuarial recommendation for contributions to the Police and Fire Pension Fund.

The plan includes nearly $1.8 million in reductions for the parks, health and public works’ transportation budgets, as well as $260,000 in reduced funding for outside agencies.

Also included is an employee reduction of 36.4 full-time equivalents, including 15 from the Police department, five from Fire and 8.4 from Public Works. None of the personnel reductions, however, will mean layoffs – the cuts will be made by not filling open positions.

The budget also eliminates the Police take-home car program, which should save $230,000, and new fees for restaurant inspections and Fire department medical runs, which should bring in an additional $173,000.

The budget will be on council’s May 5 agenda for public comment, and council could vote as early as May 19. An approved budget must be in place before the new fiscal year begins July 1.

The full budget document is available on the city’s Web site, www.springfieldmo.gov.

See SBJ’s May 5 issue for more on the city’s proposed budget.