With pay cut intact, city budget set for Tuesday adoption

Lynchburg City Council does not appear to have changed its mind about the new city budget, making it highly unlikely any last-minute amendments will be made when the matter comes to a vote on Tuesday.

The budget, which takes effect July 1, includes a citywide pay cut that’s generated intense debate over the last two weeks. Public safety employees are advocating vocally for a return to full pay and community members have organized a rally for the afternoon of the council meeting.

In interviews given last week, nearly all members of council said they remains opposed to any special treatment for the public safety division.

“We need to be fair and equitable across the board,” said Mayor Joan Foster, adding a special exemption for one part of the staff would lead to morale problems elsewhere.

Several council members said they chose the 3 percent pay cut in order to avoid more severe measures, such as layoffs.

“A 3 percent cut in pay is better than a 100 percent cut in pay,” Vice Mayor Bert Dodson said, noting one budget option presented and rejected this year was to put a fire engine out of service and lay off the related fire fighters.

“We could have done that,” he said. “But does anyone want that?”

Earlier this month, Councilman Jeff Helgeson proposed restoring full pay for police officers by reducing the school budget. His motion died due to lack of a second and the budget went on to pass its first reading on a 4-3 vote.

Helgeson said last week he found it “mind boggling” that anyone would consider the budget acceptable in its current form.

“The government’s top priority should always be the safety of its citizens,” he said. “… It’s interesting that in this budget we’re raising (the property tax burden), but cutting back on what should be No.1. That’s a very bad budget. It’s going the wrong direction on both accounts.”

Council has committed to restoring full or partial pay for all employees, if possible, at a later date. The city manager has said before that restoring employee pay will be his first priority as the new fiscal year moves ahead.

The city’s current thinking is that any money left over at the end of the fiscal year should be funneled back into employee salaries. The city has traditionally been able to end each year with a positive bank balance, but there are no guarantees that achievement will be repeated this year.

In a normal budget cycle, surplus funds are either placed in the city reserves or used to pay for capital projects.

Councilman Turner Perrow, who voted against the overall budget due to concerns about the tax rate, acknowledged the current plan relies on a lot of “ifs,” but added he felt it was a good start, although it should be “fleshed out” more in the future.

“Our employees are getting squeezed very hard right now,” Perrow said. “That puts everyone in a very, very tough position, and we are going to have to talk more about how to remedy that over time.”

Lynchburg’s police chief said earlier this week he was reviewing his own department’s budget to see if any additional money for salaries could be found. City Manager Kimball Payne said any effort to amend the personnel section of the police budget would require the approval of City Council.

But if such a proposal were brought forward, he added, it would not have the backing of the city manager’s office.

“I will not recommend a unilateral restoration of pay for one department,” Payne said. “I’m not going to single out one department or take sides as though one department is better than the others. We’re a team here, providing services for the citizens. We need to operate as a team.”

Council members expressed doubt as to whether the police department actually could find enough money in its own budget to restore pay. All city departments are already taking aggressive cost-cutting measures in order to offset declining tax revenue and a reduction in state aid.

Councilman Scott Garrett, who pushed to restore pay for all city employees during the budget process, said he would have to know what the additional cuts would be before deciding if he could support an amendment to the police budget.

He did say he continued to feel it was a mistake to move ahead with the pay cuts.

“I don’t think we should be balancing the budget on the city employee’s backs,” he said. “It sends the wrong message at the wrong time. This is a tough time to be telling people we don’t value their work as much as we did yesterday.”

Garrett voted against the budget on its first reading over objections to the pay cuts and tax rate. During the budget process, he had proposed several ways of avoiding the pay cuts, including dipping into the city’s contingency money.

The Lynchburg Fire Fighters Association and the local chapter of the Police Benevolent Association both recently said they think that idea should be revisited. No other council members spoke in support of the proposal when Garrett first introduced it.

If the police department finds additional savings in its budget, Councilman Michael Gillette said the money should go back in the general fund and be redistributed among all employees.

“They should be team players with the rest of the city employees and share the benefits,” Gillette said.

“These are very difficult decisions,” he added of the pay cut. “I think most city employees have heard and accepted the fact that these are tough times.”

The city manager said he discussed the choice of pay cuts versus layoffs with employees while developing the budget and heard overwhelmingly that layoffs should be the last resort.

Mayor Foster said the pay cuts were an unfortunate move necessitated by the shrinking budget, not a sign of how council valued city employees.

“I care deeply for all our employees. I value them all,” she said. “… We are going to continually look out all year long (for ways to restore the pay cut) for all city employees at whatever percent we can. That will be my first priority.”

Councilman Ceasor Johnson did not return a call for comment Friday.

The rally in support of public safety salaries will be held at the foot of Monument Terrace from noon to 5 p.m. on Tuesday. Council members will be in a work session for most of that time.

The budget is on the agenda for council’s regular business meeting, which starts at 5 p.m. Seven members of the public have signed up to speak to council about the budget before the vote.

Those addresses will be made during the “public presentation” portion of the meeting. Public presentations are limited to those who submit written requests to address council a week before the meeting. Council will not hear any general public comment Tuesday.