By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington city staff has presented the city’s budget task force with ideas to help plug a budget shortfall, but city manager David Hales cautions against stretching city staff any further.
“They get frustrated and morale is not good because we are asking too much of them,” Hales said. “We haven’t given them the recourses, including the training and the skill to perform these programs.”
PODCAST: Listen to Scott and Colleen’s interview with Hales on WJBC.
The data presented to the task force on Monday proposes eliminating several administrative posts, including assistant city manager and assistant police chief.
“Unfortunately with a very lean organization which we have, we are not cutting into fat into most, cases we are cutting into muscle,” Hales said.
They include reducing traffic signal maintenance and street lighting, cutting back staff at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts and limiting public facility and park grounds maintenance. One task force member has suggested the city privative the BCPA. It had a $1 million operating loss last year.
“I’m sure it will be extremely controversial,” Hales said.
BCPA director Tina Salamone told WJBC’s Susan Saunders the center has looked for ways to raise revenue by increasing rental fees and more fundraising, but the city has also capped the tax money it will give to the venue.
“People can live on bread and water, but it doesn’t really lift their spirits very much,” Salamone said. “In the land of milk and honey, it doesn’t seem altogether cool.”
There’s also a proposal to pull resource officers out of schools unless the schools pay for them entirely.
Alderman David Sage wants the task force to come up with $4 million in cuts, but to try to leave police and fire untouched. Hales told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin that’s a challenge as police and fire make up nearly half of the city’s general fund budget.
The task force plans to hold several meetings in August to start hashing out recommendations.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
