To reiterate, the procedure to get a Council vote, in this case on the budget, there first has to be a Finance Committee meeting. The Finance Committee, as with all City Council committees, has three members, Sandy Cox, the Chairman, Darrel Lautenschleger and Colleen Espenschied, Committee Members, and John Zucal, the Alternate, who fills in should one of the Committee members be absent.
Remember, it takes two voting members to make a decision in a committee. The members meet at the Chairman's request, and if there is a quorum present, which requires a minimum of two members, the Committee transacts its business. After a discussion on an issue, a motion is made to bring the issue to the whole Council for a vote. The motion is read on three consecutive Council meetings before it is put to a vote. It requires a majority of Council members, four, to pass a motion, after which it becomes law.
The Finance Committee is the most important committee on City Council as its responsibility is to approve a budget for the operation of the city. The decisions it makes mandates how the money will be spent in the coming year. These decisions should be based on sound business principles, not the least making sure that the requested expenditures do not exceed the anticipated income. If they do, the City will go into default, a fancy term meaning go broke, and will be taken over and run by the State of Ohio, not a good thing. If expenditures are less than income, the city is considered financially sound and everybody breathes easier.
Where do the requested items on the budget come from? That is the responsibility of the Mayor. He asks for recommendations from the department heads and uses the information they provide to put the City budget together. His budget includes all the operating expenses for the City for the next year. He is assisted in his effort by the City Auditor, Beth Gundy, who advises him on the money available to the City to pay all the expenses for the year. The money comes from various sources, taxes, the federal government, state government, the county, New Philadelphia income tax, grants, endowments, and other sources. The anticipated income for the year is divided between all city departments, based on the requests which are submitted to the Mayor. The Mayor makes adjustments to these requests to keep all expenses within the available income, approves the budget and passes it on to the Chairman of the Finance Committee for advice and consent.
The Finance Committee then meets and studies the budget, item by item, to be sure that the requested items can be paid for out of the anticipated income. They are helped in this effort by information provided by the mayor and department heads, as to the necessity of each item, its cost, and whether the City can afford the expense based on the projected income. It is the responsibility of the Finance Committee to make whatever changes are necessary to keep the budget at a level which can be paid during the year. Part of this responsibility is to cut expenses where necessary, which includes the refusal to purchase equipment, hire personnel, that sort of thing. It is just like home budgets. If you don't have the money to pay for what you buy, don't buy it. Once this gets worked out in committee, it votes to pass it on to the City Council with a recommendation for Council action. The Council then has the option to approve, reject, or change the budget as it sees fit. If Council votes to approve it, it becomes law.
As with all budgets, there are two types of expenses, fixed and discretionary. Fixed expenses are those which have to be paid no matter what. They are generally recurring, and are not controllable. Discretionary expenses are those which are controllable and it is those expenses which are critical when putting budgets together. Discretionary expenses are the only ones which the Finance Committee and City Council can work with to control the budget.
Under discretionary expenses are the General Fund (pays salaries, operating expenses, building maintenance), and Master Capital (pays for purchases of new equipment, building construction or purchase, and other items which are expected to be used for years). Interestingly, included in the General Fund is the Police and Fire income and payroll expense. This is in addition to the money which comes from the half-percent income tax increase voted in a few years ago, which goes into a special fund. This money can only be used for Police and Fire operations.
If there are not enough funds to make the budget work, it is from discretionary funds where the cuts come. Services such as street paving, park maintenance, new vehicles, land purchases, health department services, and the like, get the cuts. Salaries and operating funds of the Administration and City Council fall under this category.
Fixed (or non-controlled) expenses are those which include total costs for all union salaries, federal, state, and county grants, such as the CHIP and Small City grants which help the poorer neighborhoods in the city by providing housing repair and street improvement. These expenses cannot be cut as their use is directed by federal, state, county, and/or city law.
Getting a budget from the Mayor's office to the final vote on the Council floor may not seem all that complicated, but the reality is that the effort is one which is all too often taken for granted. Poor information concerning anticipated income for the coming year can, and does, contribute to bad financial judgements. To get the job done properly requires honesty, candidness, and good communication between all parties involved, the Mayor, City Treasurer and Auditor, department heads, the Finance Committee, and City Council.
It also requires interest and curiosity on the part of the citizens of New Philadelphia. They must become actively involved in the process by finding out how, where, and why the money is spent. It is your responsibility to find the facts, and there is no better place to start than to contact your City Councilmen and the Mayor. It's your money. It's your city. Get involved.
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