(VIDEO ON 3.3% PAY RAISE DEBATE IN COMMITTEE) GOVERNOR KASICH TRIED TO SAVE CANTON CITY GOVERNMENT ABOUT $1.5 MILLION. CANTON'S RESPONSE: "NO THANK YOU!" HMM?

 

 UPDATED AT 12:30 PM

With his support of Ohio Senate Bill 5 (SB 5), Republican Governor John Kasich trying to save Ohio taxpayers millions of dollars in pension costs by prohibiting local governments from picking up the employees pension contribution rates after July 1, 2011.

Thanks, BUT NO THANKS!!!  That's what Canton's councilpersons and the Healy administration says.  And that includes Republican Councilman Mark Butterworth who told the SCPR last night that he opposes SB 5.

Recently, Canton decided to do an end-run around the Kasich administration by doing a PERS conversion whereby the city increased management and AFSCME service workers 7.26% to offset the employees paying the entire 10% employee pension contribution that city officials anticipated would go into effect with SB 5.

Gary Young (Canton's auditor's office) tells The Report that, in the case of the pre-2003 management employees the conversion (had it not been done) has an "opportunity to save cost" of approximately $500,000.  Young used an average salary of $57,000 for 110 employees in arriving at the estimate.  He is currently working on refining the data to "actual data," but the work is not complete as of the date of this blog.

Young also estimated that the "opportunity to save" cost for AFSCME service employees to be about  $1 million.  To estimate this figure, Young took this group's total payroll number and multiplied it by the 7.26%.

Young took no position on whether or not the conversions should have been done.  His only role for purposes of this blog was to provide the data cited above.

It could be that it turns out that there is no lost opportunity because SB 5 gets put on the November, 2011 ballot and is defeated by Ohio's voters.  And The Report believes that such is very likely to happen.  But one never knows in the world of politics.

Pay issues are a sore point in Canton City Council (Council) these days.  Last night there was a long and protracted debate in the pre-Council-meeting Finance Committee meeting (Ward One Councilman Greg Hawk, chair).  Be sure to view the video at the end of this blog to get a flavor of the debate.

The approved raises (3.3%) are said by Canton Finance Director Joe DiRuzza to cost Canton up to $198,000 ($91,000 of which for management/administrative employees, $107,000 for enterprise fund employees).

DiRuzza told yours truly that those numbers presumes that everybody (management/administrative) will be getting the 3.3% raise.

City officials (especially Mayor Healy) like to trot out the "enterprise fund" answer as sort of a "perfect squelch" to any criticism because the given expenditure does not come out of the general fund directly paid for by taxpayers.  However, the truth of the matter is that as enterprise department expenses increase (e.g. water, sewer et cetera); rates go up.  So the fact of the matter is that enterprise fund expense increases do cost Cantonians.

Of course, the sticking point with opponents to the 3.3% raise (Cirelli and Smuckler) is that the money needed to be spent on additional firemen and policemen.  

Last night a citizen who is involved in a Canton neighborhood association appeared before council and complained about Canton's policing.  Another complained about deficient city ambulance service.

Here is a video (Finance Committee meeting) which is indicative of the debate on the pay increases.

(VIDEO) ONLY REPUBLICAN COUNCILMAN MARK BUTTERWORTH GETS IT, VOTES "NO" ON TRANSFER OF CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT MONIES TO CITY'S GENERAL REVENUE FUND FOR POLICE & FIRE

A week ago today Canton City Council bought into deepening the financial crisis that besieges Canton city government.

Cantonians have to thank God for having one Republican on Council to act as a conservative conscience on the runaway Democrat spenders on Council, no?

Well, not exactly.  In fact, Canton is spending less and less on government because revenue collections from the city's income tax is falling, falling and falling more.

However, it is fiscally improvident and irresponsible for Canton to be taking capital improvement funds and putting them in day-to-day operations (police and fire in this instance).  It is truly astounding to hear Law Director Martuccio (see video at end of this blog) that whereas local law mandates a 75% to 25% between general fund and capital improvements split; Council has - over the years since Canton implemented an income tax - provided for 14 exceptions to the 25% capital improvement allocation through November 28, 2010 and then on the 29th added a 15th exception.

Butterworth did do the right thing in voting no on the 15th exception.

 

Councilman Hawk did speak out against the practice of making greater and greater inroads into capital improvement monies as a shift to general fund day-to-day operations.  

 

But should Cantonians be impressed by Hawk's rhetoric?  No!  The saying:  "actions speak louder than words."  What are Hawk and his finance committee members doing vis-a-vis Mayor Healy and his administration to stop this "robbing Peter to pay Paul" operation that is in full stride in Canton's financial operations these days.  

Answer:  absolutely nothing!!!

Words, mere words is all Cantonians are getting.  And he has ten other Democrats following his lead.  Democrat officials get upset about being tagged with being financially irresponsible.  But how else is this Canton City Council action to be tagged?

One of the highly important needs of an city is to have capital improvement funds with which to make infrastructure improvements required by new and relocating businesses if the businesses are going to (with their income tax-producing jobs) decide to call Canton home.

To the degree that capital improvement funds get eroded, so does Canton's capability to make Canton an attractive option to businesses seeking locales for new or expanding business.  While police and fire functions are vitally important, Canton must find other ways to fund these operations.  Cutting into the bone of the city by taking from capital improvement funds is a dangerous move in terms of Canton's economic future viability.

In the video that accompanies this blog, the SCPR interviews Mayor Healy on his view about creating the 15th exception to take from capital improvement monies and shifting them to day-to-day operations.  As readers of The Report know, yours truly has never met a more crafty political spin artist than Mayor Healy in making what he deems to be important as being sound reasoning and therefore the thing to do.

As readers will see, Healy does not disappoint in terms of his spin- making ability.  He shifts the topic away from the enduring to the temporary in insinuating that stimulus monies and road paving projects financed by the one-time money somehow cures the removal of bone from the Canton body politic and the damage it does to Canton's economic future.

There couldn't be a clearer picture of the the financial and economic damage that is insidiously being done.  But does Healy put on a good show?  He does.

While the big fuss at last week's meeting was whether to amend the city building code to provide for mandatory inspections at dramatically increased fees (and these inspections are highly important if Canton is to get rid of its slums), the vote on the transfer of funds from capital improvements to day-to-day general fund obligations is a "fly beneath the radar" operation that cuts into Canton's ability to turn its economic future around.

Shame on Council and shame on Mayor Healy for aiding and abetting the demise of Canton's future!!!

Here is the promised video.