MANSFIELD — The City of Mansfield emerged from state-controlled fiscal emergency almost five years ago.
Mansfield Finance Director Linn Steward made it clear to City Council on Tuesday evening some of the financial lessons learned during the emergency period from 2012-2014 need to be remembered.
During a 75-minute Finance Committee meeting, Steward and two of her staff members went over the plan for final 2019 appropriations. She also sounded a clear warning.
“If we were (still) under state control, we would have to budget appropriations to estimated revenue,” Steward said. “I think we better start thinking about doing that (again).
“We had to (plan expenditures based on anticipated revenue during the fiscal emergency). That’s the best financial practice,” Steward said. “If we were doing that, we would be able to fund all these capital requests. We would have money for one-time projects.”
Council is expected to vote on the proposed budget during its March 19 meeting.
One of the charts Steward shared with council showed how general fund and safety services fund revenues, largely based on income tax collection, have begun to flatten out in the last few years, while expenses have continued to climb.
Revenues exceeded expenses by $4.2 million in 2014. That was down to $677,532 in 2018 and looks worse in 2019.
“We are getting to the point, like the graph showed, once we converge (expenses exceed revenues), we might go into fiscal watch from the state. We don’t want to do that,” Steward said.
“We need to start addressing it. We have tried our best to tell everyone the trends we see at the point in time when we do the forecasts,” Steward said.
“We have really tried to provide the figures. I do not have control over the departments. We work with the administration. Finance tries to help. If we’re asked, we’re there to help,” Steward said.
After the council meeting ended, Finance Committee Chairman Jon Van Harlingen echoed Steward’s words.
“I believe (Steward) made it very clear our revenue funds may have leveled out and what we have now is our appropriations are going to exceed that. In the past, we have budgeted with cash left over from the year before. But the expenditures are starting to catch up with the revenue,” said Van Harlingen, who represents the city’s 3rd Ward.
The veteran lawmaker said increasing taxes and looking for additional revenue streams is not the answer.
“The major driver of revenue in the City of Mansfield is income tax. Needless to say, industry, people working, these things all help. Open a new business, it’s all a big plus.
“Nobody wants to go back for more taxes. We’re fine. We gotta learn to live within our budget,” Van Harlingen said.
The city’s general fund budget calls for $28,029,329 in expenditures, an increase of 5.5 percent over 2018’s budget ($26,556,923). The budget calls for $26,155,403 in safety services, a decrease of 1.5 percent over last year’s plan ($26,556923).
Steward reported to council that the city is able to use some carryover cash for certain capital projects and equipment in 2019, though there was insufficient revenue to set aside into the budget stabilization fund. i.e. rainy day fund.
She said general fund cash was able to fulfill $307,083 in capital requests, including $210,000 to the street maintenance and repair fund to purchase a new snow plow truck.
More than $2 million in capital requests from various departments were not funded in the budget, including $300,000 for a new street sweeper, $228,644 for four new police cruisers, $400,000 for a new fire department storage building and $350,000 to replace the fire department’s HAZMAT unit.
Another significant cause for concern is the rapidly rising cost of health insurance for city employees. The city, which is self-insured, spent $6.2 million to provide healthcare for its employees in 2014. That number is expected to exceed $10 million in 2019.
The city is expected to pay $10,670 for its share of coverage in 2019 for a single employee. That figure jumps to $26,268 per employee with full family coverage. Those figures were $7,113 and $17,686, respectively, in 2014.
The city’s total financial appropriations budget for 2019 is $121,871,772, which is $7 million less than the temporary appropriations budget approved in December. It’s about $6 million less than the city appropriated for 2018.
In other action Tuesday, City Council:
— Approved lease/purchase of a new ladder truck for the fire department at a cost not to exceed $848,956. The city will make annual payments of $71,612.36 for the apparatus, pushing the total cost with interest to $1,074,185.40 if the truck is not paid off sooner. Funds for the truck will come from the fire department’s capital equipment fund, which derives its money from city EMS runs.
— Approved a second reading authorizing the city to enter into a contract for engineering services related to the construction of a regional detention basin, known as the North Lake Park Dry Dam over Touby’s Run. A final vote on the authorization is expected March 19.
— Approved demolition of five dilapidated properties at 112 Chester Ave., 212 S. Foster St., 266 W. 4th St., 274 Superior Ave. and 400 W. 4th St.
— Approved a resolution honoring police aide Nettie Ballard, who retired Feb. 28 after more than 30 years of service to the city.
— Approved by a 7-1 vote a contract with the Mansfield Area Y to operate the municipal pool at Liberty Park this summer. 1st Ward Councilman David Falquette cast the only negative vote.
— Approved the acceptance of funding from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services under a 2018 sub-grant in the amount of $60,000 to be used for a portion of the cost of a family violence liaison officer.
