A compromise was brokered between Dec. 5 and today that turned an 8-3 “no” vote into a 9-5 “yes” vote.

The biggest changes are that increased costs for liquor licenses and ambulance rides — items that were expected to generate $75,500 for the city — were eliminated from the roster of proposed fee hikes.

Aldermen Tim Durkee, R-1, Pat Curran, R-2, Doug Mark, R-3, Carl Wasco, D-4, Lenny Jacobson, D-6, Nancy Johnson, D-8, Frank Beach, R-10, John Beck, R-12, and Bill Robertson, I-14, voted for the amended fee schedule.

Aldermen Venita Hervey, D-5, Ann Thompson-Kelly, D-7, Bill Timm, R-9, Karen Elyea, D-11, and Linda McNeely, D-13, voted no.

“We were able to do some work between last Monday and this Monday,” said Mayor Larry Morrissey, who suggested last week that layoffs would be necessary to fill the $3.85 million budget gap being created by the aldermen’s refusal to pass the proposed 2012 fee schedule.

With tonight’s vote, the City Council is back on track to pass a balanced budget for 2012 before the beginning of the new year, which is also the beginning of the city’s fiscal year.

“We have to pass a balanced budget. To do that, we have to have revenue and expenses in line,” Morrissey said. “This is not a perfect budget, but it is balanced and it does what we need it to do, which is provide the best services we can to our residents.”

Gary Cacciapaglia, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1058, which represents the city’s Public Works employees, said talk of layoffs was upsetting to union employees.

“The very next day there were several meetings set forth by administration on layoffs — 20 layoffs for public works employees — 11 from street and nine from water,” he said. “At the time we’re going through all this, we’re thinking, ‘OK, is this really a layoff that’s going to happen to us, or is this something that has to do with motivation for the City Council?’

“We’ve always been good partners — taking freezes, working with the health care and doing a lot of things to help provide services. … We just felt this was a very hostile move. We hope it doesn’t happen again in the future.”

Thompson-Kelly said she voted against the amended fee schedule because she still believed the new rates were too much for residents and small businesses.

“Small businesses in this community are going to create the jobs and improve jobs in this community. It’s also the small businesses that have supported this community,” she said. “I feel we can make better decisions on how we balance this budget. … You think we have tough times now. They’re coming.

“We still have to address the Police Department and how public safety is going to be addressed in this community, things that are going to blow this budget apart.”

In the new fee ordinance, liquor license and ambulance fees will remain at 2011 levels. The city’s 2012 fee schedule is a series of fees and costs for services from the city ranging from water and garbage to liquor licenses and building permits. Aldermen adopt a fee ordinance each year to set the various rates.

A draft of the city’s nearly $113.5 million spending plan was passed two weeks ago. The plan appeared to be moving forward smoothly until aldermen rejected the fee ordinance last week.

The new fee ordinance is expected to generate $1.75 million in revenue for the general, parking, water and sanitation fund and retain $1.9 million solely for the sanitation fund, a total of $3.65 million. The old schedule generated $3.85 million in revenue.

Despite the change, the proposed 2012 budget remains balanced.

This Article originally appeared on the Rockford Register Star

ROCKFORD — City leaders gave aldermen an update on the financial status of two public safety pension funds this morning, but City Council members made no decisions on 2012 contribution levels.

Aldermen are weighing three options to balance the 2012 budget: to fully fund public safety pensions or reduce funding by $1.5 million or $3.2 million.

Regardless of how much aldermen decide to pay into the police and fire pension funds next year, state law requires that the funds be 90 percent funded by 2040.

The city would be on the hook for those dollars — and more if investments fall short — if the funds fail to meet the 90 percent mark down the road.

So aldermen are taking their time with the decision. They plan to meet to discuss matters further Sept. 10. The city’s latest 2012 financial forecast predicts a $5.2 million deficit in the general fund, where the city pays for most of its personnel costs, including pension payments.

This year was the first in more than 20 years that Rockford didn’t fund its two public safety pension funds to the level recommended by an actuary. It shorted the funds by $1.5 million to help close the gap on a $5.5 million general fund deficit.

It was able to do this, city leaders said, because it had funded the two funds so well during the past two decades, and the funds — at 75 percent and 68 percent funded — were well on their way to the 90 percent target.

But the city doesn’t want to make the same mistake that other municipalities made years ago and underfund to the point where the funds are struggling to recover.

After a two-hour presentation and question and answer session this morning, some aldermen said they still didn’t know which of the three options they liked best.

“Rockford has done a fairly good job in being 72 percent funded when most of the cities in the state of Illinois are way below 50 percent. That speaks well to what we’re doing here,” said Ald. Frank Beach, R-10. “But we do have a challenge going forward. We have been given some data for us to examine so we can think about it and rather than make a feel-good decision, make a decision based on facts.”

Beach said he likes that the new law starts the clock ticking on a new 30-year period to meet the state’s deadline. That at least opens the door to options, he said.

Ald. Carl Wasco, D-4, said the presentation was informative but didn’t help him come to a firm decision on next year’s pension funding.

“The question for me is I don’t want to raise taxes on citizens. So how do we solve this problem now?” Wasco said. “I’m going to have to look more at the overall budget … We’re just getting started.”

Aldermen are being asked to choose among a $5.2 million, $3.7 million or $2 million general fund deficit for 2012. Where they end up will be determined by how they choose to fund the city’s public safety pensions.

A $5.2 million deficit would mean cutting the equivalent of about 56 full-time employees if savings could not be found elsewhere. A $3.7 million deficit would mean a potential full-time reduction in force of about 40 positions. And a $2 million deficit would amount to cutting the equivalent of 21 full-time jobs.

“If I have to make a choice, I’m going to make a choice that supports maintaining enough of our Police Department to ensure a reasonable approach toward law enforcement. That means we may be looking at a situation where we don’t pay the full amount into the pension system,” Mayor Larry Morrissey said.

“The pension promise is a promise that I didn’t make, our City Council didn’t make. Those are promises made by state legislators. The promise we make as a City Council is to do everything we can to keep our citizens safe, to make sure our officers are safe, all of our employees are safe.”

This Article originally appeared on the Rockford Register Star

ROCKFORD (WREX) - Rockford has a balanced 2010 budget but there are questions whether it will stay that way. Alderman Carl Wasco calls it a bare bones spending plan. There are no immediate job cuts, but it includes, for the most part, hiring and wage freezes.

“12 ayes, 1 no, Your Honor.”

“We have passage of our 2010 budget. Congratulations.”

The budget contains no money for capital expenses like police squads, fire trucks, and ambulances. So aldermen approved a resolution designating any future revenues from video gambling to those purchases.

“Some of the aldermen thought it was important to at least decide on a revenue source,” explains Wasco, “if it starts coming in. If it doesn’t come in, we’ll have to look at another source.”

Alderman Linda McNeely voted against that idea. She was also the only alderman to oppose the budget. ”There’s no one particular item in there but a number of items that’ll certainly have an impact on those in the city that are unemployed or have been unemployed for 12 months.” McNeely pointed to increased fees for special events permits and liquor licensing.

Mayor Larry Morrissey applauded city staff and leaders for a balanced plan, but, “I don’t’ know how long it’ll remain balanced if the governor and legislature cuts our share of the local income tax by 30%, which is what they’re talking about doing.”

That’s a more than $3 million hit to Rockford, which would begin this year and continue into FY-2011.

“Just this year, the budget year 2010, I’m being told it’d be $1.75 million,” Wasco says. ”There’s some other items coming at us, so we could be out of balance real quick and looking for ways to have to go back to a balanced budget.”

The mayor goes down to Springfield tomorrow to meet with the governor and legislative leaders to talk about what that income tax proposal would mean for Rockford. He’ll also push for pension reform.

This Article originally appeared on WREX

ROCKFORD (WREX) – Rockford’s finances seem to be the first thing on anyone’s mind at City Hall. In both the Codes and Regulations committee and then again on the City Council floor aldermen discuss money.

Between proposed changes to downtown parking operations and the 2009 budget aldermen can’t escape these financial decisions. The Codes and Regulations committee still can’t figure out if raising parking and permit fees is right. The extra revenue would fix parking lots or decks in terrible condition.

Rockford Finance Director Andres Sammul states, “We certainly cant do what we did since 1989 which is go for a score of years without a change.”

But Alderman Carl Wasco doesn’t think increasing fees tackles a bigger problem, downtown employee behavior. Wasco tells 13 News, “We need to find parking for employees downtown that’s convenient to them and affordable cause when you’re working for $8 an hour it’s hard to pay $30/month for a permit.”

Analyzing figures only carried over into the council meeting. City Administrator Jim Ryan announced a plan to eliminate almost $8-million in debt. Ryan says, “We have looked at a monthly furlough for all exempt employees. That would be 9-days a year we would ask employees to not take pay.”

That’s only for non-union workers. Ryan also highlighted ideas like no overtime, a hiring freeze and negotiating with the unions for a pay freeze. The biggest struggle for the city could be negotiations about staffing levels. Rockford’s fire union’s very adamant about sticking with 4 on a truck verses 3.

This Article originally appeared on WREX