Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – The $187,000 shortfall the city faced just a few weeks ago has been eliminated, thanks largely to the cooperative efforts of department heads who reviewed their respective budgets and came up with ways to make adjustments to absorb the brunt of the amount needed to balance the city’s 2008 budget. Citing unstable fuel prices as the reason for the shortage, City Manager Tom Stevens advised City Council in June that measures had to be taken to balance the budget, including the possibility of raising taxes to do so. But at the Council’s meeting Monday evening, Stevens announced the matter had been addressed and the funds found to take care of the problem.
Working with Finance Director Pat Webb, Stevens said they discovered the actual figure needed to balance the budget was more like $162,000, due to changing fuel prices. From there, Webb and Stevens worked with the heads of various city departments to find ways to come up with that amount.
“We were able to cover 100 percent of the shortfall internally, by making cuts in the budget,” said Stevens. “We were able to come up with $162,952 worth of adjustments.”
Webb said much of that amount was attained by delaying equipment purchases.
“There was one big item in the Solid Waste budget that was moved to next year. Suffice it to say we’ve adjusted the budget downward,” Stevens told the Council, noting that the budget remains within the state’s LD 1 spending cap.
“In December Council wanted to stay under the LD 1 cap of about $50,000. We’re right back there,” said Stevens.
The Presque Isle Fire and Presque Isle Police departments also made adjustments for equipment purchases they’d planned for this year.
While officials are satisfied with the outcome, there’s still concern over fuel prices and how they may affect expenses later in the year.
“The market seems to have stabilized. We’re as comfortable with the figure (cost for fuel) as one can have with a murky crystal ball, when it comes to fuel cost. It’s not a perfect science. If we have a very cold fall,” needs could change, said Stevens.
Council Vice Chair Ed Nickerson questioned the PIPD’s use of fuel, commenting that despite the adjustment in the budget for fuel, the department still showed an estimate of about 15,000 gallons.
“Have they looked at their use and tried to reduce?” asked Nickerson.
“I think the number of calls have increased. To the degree that anybody cannot drive miles, we’ve tried to do that,” responded Stevens.
Councilman Ron McPherson, who also serves as a bail bondsman, said that was “a hard item to call.”
He noted the many miles police are required to cover, including part of the Egypt Road, Parkhurst Siding Road, Ginn Road and more.
“Police cover a lot of area. Calls are up. I was busy all weekend and so were they. You have to utilize those facilities, same as the PIFD. They (firefighters) go to a fire, the truck’s gotta run to pump the water. You can’t shut it off,” said McPherson.
Following discussion, Council voted unanimously to amend the 2008 budget, to cover the shortfall, keeping the figure of $13,135,900, as voted on in December 2007.
The next Council session will take place on Monday, Aug. 4, at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall. FMI, contact 764-4485.