Budget will ‘cut’ deeper for some

On Monday night the High Springs city manager introduced his proposal for the new budget. It calls for a $607,000 reduction in general funds and the elimination of up to 12 full-time and three part-time city positions. It also provides for a five percent pay cut for all non-shift city personnel.

Over the next two months the High Springs City Commission will hold a series of special meetings and workshops to discuss the budget and make decisions on any adjustments to the proposal.

The final budget meeting is scheduled for Sept. 27, at which point, the commission will likely approve and adopt it for the 2010-2011 fiscal year which begins Oct. 1.

Until then, the commission can take action to revise the budget as it sees fit.

In the cover letter of the proposal, City Manager Jim Drumm indicated that earlier this month, the commission directed him to present a budget that does not include any tax increases, additional fire assessment fees or other fees involving the general fund.

His letter goes on to explain that the budget he prepared reflects the commission’s direction.  It also outlines some of the reasons for the various slashes on spending, including the eight percent decrease in appraised property values in the city, and the general state of the current economy.

In an interview Wednesday, Drumm said of the 15 positions being slashed from the budget, six are in the High Springs Police Department’s dispatch center.  The budget calls for the City to shut down the dispatch center, thereby cutting four full-time positions and two part-time positions, he said.

To replace the dispatch center, the City Manger said he is looking to negotiate an arrangement with the City of Alachua or Alachua County to provide dispatch services.

The proposal goes into detail about specific cuts and spending allocations for every department, and it can be viewed in its entirety online at http://highsprings.us/budget.

Some of the proposed budget cuts include first and last names of current employees. Some of those employees have children, and all of them could potentially be left unemployed by the beginning of October.

Penny Banks is the city code inspector. His is one of the 12 positions up to be cut.

Banks has been working as the code inspector in High Springs for about eight and a half years, but on Monday, he was given some bad news.

“I was advised by the city manager that my position will end as of Sept. 29,” Banks said.

Banks did not attend the budget meeting later that evening, but he knew some other employees on the chopping block were planning to attend, and the news would be devastating.

Some of them are young parents, and others are senior citizens on the verge of retirement. Banks has two daughters of his own, but they’re grown. He has a grandson, too.

He said it has been suggested that he retire before the end of September, in which case he might be able to get some additional benefits, but he hasn’t decided if he’ll do that yet.

“But that puts me in a better position than a lot of other people. I’m very lucky.”

This isn’t the first time Banks has faced the question of his position potentially getting cut. It’s been going on for four years, he said, but got more serious in 2008.

He said he’s going to go back on the job market – that is “if somebody will hire a 65-year-old ex-code inspector slash ex-construction project manager.”

Banks ran his own construction consulting business in South Florida for 30 years before moving to High Springs in 2001. He said he and his wife, who is a realtor, have no intention of leaving High Springs.

“We’re very happy up here.”