A $919,000 allotment to the Board of Education was the center of most discussions. Three council members; Kenneth Horn, Doug Murphree and Manuell Smith all said they would not vote for the budget if that amount was cut.
“My conclusion is to not cut the Board of Education a dime,” Smith said. “We have a new superintendent, and I feel we would be throwing her under the bus. So, I’m not going to vote for anything that cuts it one penny.”
Currently, the proposed budget for fiscal year 2009-2010 has a $518,000 deficit.
Mayor Sam Wright opened the meeting with a proposal to allow the board to control all of its own money.
He said the council could give the more than $2.5 million in the ad valorem tax fund, as well as a pair of CDs valued at $1.33 million and $513,000 to the City School System.
Right now the council has to approve withdrawals from the tax fund. The council would only retain money for payments owed, totaling roughly $1.4 million.
“I propose that we give that money to the Board of Education, we eliminate our $919,000 from our general budget, we do five percent across the board cuts,” Wright said.
Wright said he and other council members had received an “anonymous letter.” He said the letter proposed some of the ideas he put forward regarding the BOE money.
Councilman Walter Jacobson presented a worksheet with 5 percent cuts in various appropriations and departments at Thursday’s work session. That proposal included a $350,000 allotment to the schools.
This meeting he presented some revised numbers with additional cuts and $500,000 budgeted for the BOE.
“My suggestion on the reduction to the Board of Education was based solely on their ability to replenish their funding stream,” he said. “To make up that difference, if you went in and everything out of all the appropriations — everything we do — you would still be $200,000 short.”
Horn suggested cuts to be made in several areas. His main focus was raises given to city employees.
“I do not think, under any circumstances, anyone that got an adjustment or raise last year should get one this year,” he said. “I have no problem with the [people] who have the step raises coming originally, but anyone who got the raise last year should not get a raise this year as tight as money is.”
Other areas he suggested cutting were the Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force by 43 percent, Industrial Development Board by 50 percent, the Chamber of Commerce by 41 percent as well as all Marble Festival expenses.
Council president James Heigl said the City Council had a big decision to make. He said he believed they would have to cut the allotment to the BOE to at least $700,000.
“City employees, through amenities, they have cut and cut just shy of having to cut into the services we provide for the people of Sylacauga,” he said. “If they did not have these millions of dollars, I wouldn’t even propose it. But we’re hurting. I’m not going to jeopardize city employees’ jobs and their benefits and their wages when we know there’s money over here where we can make our schools float.”
Heigl said the Council would not have a budget finalized by Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year. The Council said they would meet with the BOE next week to discuss matters further.
Slow down and take a breath or two. You don't have all your facts together just yet. The Sylacauga City budget is pretty much in line with other cities of comparable size. Is there waste? You bet! Will cutting the services and pay you mention cure any of this? NO. Has the city held money from the BOE? NO. It has always been there and is available to the BOE on request. This has been done quite often through the years. Is there waste in the school system? You bet! Is the BOE attempting to do anything about it? Does not appear to be but maybe there is some behind the scenes work. The crooks around town would love the idea of gutting the SPD. I am sure they would support that idea. The SFD.. only if your house or vusiness is not in danger of burning. Maybe you don't utilize services provided by the library or the parks and recreation group but a lot of our citizens do. There are many, many people visiting our town for the library that stop, have a meal at a local establishment and shop in our stores. That generates revenue to support more quality of life issues for our great city. The raises for city employees; not a perfect system by any means but the last council listened to it and decided it was a good thing for the city. Was it? Probably not the best but it was accepted. Can it be undone without major damage to those that fel they have been wronged? Don't know but the current council should probably re-visit the issue in the near future.
The school has always had control of their monies and yet the school buildings are in a sad state of repair. Whose fault is that? Hold the proper people accounatble.
Firstly, a 14 million dollar budget for a city our size is an outrage! Look at similar cities around us and their budget size and you soon see how "bloated" we have become. First things first, abolish that stupid new pay-scale that the deputy mayor sweet talked the council into voting for recently. Who do you think reaped the biggest benefits from that new scale, yup, she and her cohorts/buddies in city hall. Love the SPD, but if there was ever an agency that was bloated, this one has them beat. Cut the chiefs pay 1/2 - what duties does he have now? We have "contracted-out" the city jail, so he does not have that responsibility anymore. We do not control E911 here anymore either. Start at the top... better yet, while we are on the contracting business now instead of doing what we are paid to do, lets just abolish the SPD and contract out to Delta Security for our protection, helluva lots cheaper. We have haow many police offiers for a city our size? Cut, cut, cut. The SFD, sell that boondoggle lift truck and put those monies back into our general funds. Cut all appointed persons pay by 1/2 - mayor, councilmembers, any paid board members. Put a freeze on hiring and raises. Cut all non-essential departments by 50%, Library, Parks & Rec, Museum. Abolish the EDA and IDB completely. Hire a part-time team of local homegrown people with expertise in real estate, finance, business to recruit new industry. The days of the good ole boy system and cronyism are over - we need a new/fresh approach for our city - the old system is that old and broken. Do not give the Chamber a dime on the front-end, if they are hired to promote the city, give them funds as needed and make them show you what you are getting for every dime spent. No other city wholly funds it COC like Sylacauga does, again a tired and broken system.
Put a stop to all the non-essential pleasure trips department heads make, you know the trips to Orange Beach, Panama City, Orlando, that they "have to attend" every year. If they need a course to keep a certification, fine, you can order DVD courses or take those online, no need to waste monies on pleasure trips. Lots more ways to "trim" a budget - but what does the mayor and deputy-mayor want to do - cut the BOE cause they are a easy target, they receive a hefty part of the budget, easy pickings if you will. That just shows what type leadership we have, good ole boy/crony politics. Heck, how many of those voting even have a child in the school system? If it don't hit home, they don't care. I say hit home first, start cleaning out under your doorsteps before picking off the innocents of our town, our children, who have no say in how you run our city, but their parents and our teachers do.
Please remember those that vote to dismantle our already struggling education system Sylacauga, when you see them running for office again, remember what they voted to do, voted to keep all their departments fat/bloated and happy, voted to make you struggle. FYI, that ad valorem/mill tax monies was voted on "by the people of Sylacauga" - you did not sign that into law, WE did by a vote. That vote was to increase our property taxes to give money to the school system for improvements, like building a new middle school, and doing much needed overhauls at our other schools. We did not vote that so the mayor could cut the BOE's budget and use that money to fund the "fat" at city hall. Now he wants to just wash his hands of the BOE completely, turn the tax monies over to them and tell them "run your system off these monies, and the city will be rid of you once and for all". You educators better remember all this talk next election, remember who wanted to wash their hands of the BOE because they could not get their way.
Speaking of prisioners, what the hell is the BOE doing now with the lunacy of handing out detention hall slips for somebody not having a shirt-tail tucked in? That would appear to be a simple directive to "tuck it in, buddy". Girls can't have purses in classrooms? Where are they supposed to carry their "personal" things? Only 1 locker visit per day? What's up with that. And reinstitution of corporal punishment? Don't get me wrong, I believe in a good swat, but with conditions as they are, the BOE is lucky there hasn't been a mass uprising by the students.
Obviously the key is money. Yes, there are places in Sylacauga where money can be cut but there are more ways money can be raised.
First and foremost, bring in a good full-time grant writer. The money and other materials are out there; we need to just go get them. We also need to open the purse strings of our alumni; they can start by adopting a teacher within Sylacauga City Schools at the following web-site. Every penny goes directly to the teacher and all donations are tax-deductible. We've had this in place for over a month and have raised about $2000; we can do better than that.
www.adoptaclassroom.org
On the web-site, choose Alabama, search for Sylacauga, choose a school and then select a teacher. You can donate directly online with a credit card or print out a form that can be mailed to the organization. This is a legitimate organization or I wouldn't associate myself with it. They've helped raise millions of dollars throughout the United States; they can do the same for us.
There are very few graduates of SHS as well as local businesses and other concerned citizens that cannot afford $25 a year; that works out to about a dime a day for the school year.
How can we expect to have a better community if we don't start by supporting our children.