OnAugust 15, the City Council approved North Star, a marketing consultant companyout of Nashville, TN, to carry out a comprehensive marketing campaign for theCity. This campaign is a joint venture between North Star, businesses in theChamber of Commerce, the Mayor’s Marketing Task Force, and the City. NorthStar’s consulting fees of $60,000 will be covered by donors from the businesscommunity and the City. North Star has developed a strong track record ofworking with states and municipalities to develop in-depth, comprehensivemarketing strategies that are implementable. Our goal is to create a brand, atruly unique identity, for the city of Bristol that will provide greatereconomic development, satisfied residents, and attract more tourism opportunities.
Inorder for this effort to be as successful as possible though, we must also fixour structural fiscal problems. The City once again faces a deficit between$7.5 and $12 million. How is it that after passing a six percent tax increaselast year, the City remains in the red? Let us break down the budget process,how Bristol has gotten to this point, and the steps we have taken as theCouncil majority to get us back on track.
Firstand foremost, we’d like to explain the makeup of the Joint Board, and theprocess in which budgets are created and ultimately adopted. The Board ofFinance and City Council form the Joint Board. Overall, 15 members make up theJoint Board, which consists of the six City Councilors and eight appointed, notelected, Board of Finance members. The Mayor also sits on the Board of Financeas the ninth member. The Board of Finance outnumbers the City Council, so as tomake sure decisions are kept in the hands of financial experts and notpoliticians. It is the duty of the Board of Finance to hold budget workshopswith City Departments to adopt a budget to bring to the Joint Board forapproval.
Upontaking office in November 2011, the newly elected Republican majority on theCity Council was presented with a budget deficit of $4 million. That numberballooned to a final total of $12.8 million after Department requests,healthcare increases and debt service payments. For years the City's JointBoard has not budgeted with the out years in mind. Zero-based budgets have notbeen utilized, and detailed monthly expenditure reports have yet to beinstituted. The City has relied on Federal and State grants, ARRA money andborrowing from reserves to cover budget deficits, rather than making cuts oraddressing the structural problems.
Thereason we mention this is not to cast blame on past administrations, but ratherto inform you of the circumstances surrounding the City’s structural budgetissues and why we need significant changes going forward. To combat our budgetissues, we, the majority on the City Council, proposed $1.5 million in simplecuts to the Joint Board. In addition, we charged City Hall with investigatingdepartment consolidation and privatization. Beyond this, we have proposed a newnon-profit for parks improvement and maintenance, and commissioned a thoroughreview of the City’s current business incentives as compared to neighboringtowns.
Unfortunately,the cuts we offered were voted down by the Joint Board, and our votes to rejecta six percent tax increase were outvoted by the rest of the Joint Board.Consolidation and privatization research is still ongoing, although weanticipate a course of action to be drawn by Winter 2012. One bright spot isthat the Parks Board has supported the non-profit donation fund to help supportparks improvements and maintenance.
Sowhere do we go from here? On Monday, August 20 we will unveil part two of thisrelease, detailing the steps that will need to be taken in order to get Bristolback on the right track, and the benefits of doing so. Following that will be aseries of Town Hall meetings to get feedback and to engage the public in thisdifficult, but crucial process. With everyone’s help and cooperation, we canensure Bristol’s best days are yet to come.
Sincerely,
CouncilmanEric Carlson
CouncilmanKen Cockayne
CouncilmanDerek Czenczelewski
CouncilmanHenri Martin
MONDAY(or Tuesday) PRESS RELEASE
OnThursday, August 16 (OR FRIDAY, AUGUST 17), the Republican Majority of the CityCouncil addressed the City’s marketing initiative and outlined the budgetaryprocess, as well as our current fiscal situation. This is part two of theconversation regarding the steps that must be taken in order to get our fiscalhouse in order, and to ensure that our marketing efforts are as successful aspossible.
Inorder to fix our structural budget problems, a combination of the following maybe necessary:
Wewill continue to meet with City officials to establish a true cost analysis ofCity services. Depending on how the numbers unfold, the next step will be toscrap the plan if the savings are insignificant, or to make a motion asking theMayor to start negotiations for a contractual buyout if the savings prove to besignificant. Simultaneously, a motion will have to be made to send any servicesdetermined to show savings out to RFP (requests for proposal). The PurchasingDepartment would be in charge of creating the RFP that would detail all thetasks that must be performed contractually.
Wehave identified a list of cuts and concessions totaling approximately $5.6million. In addition, we will be requesting feedback from the community todetermine which services are most essential to our citizens. Union concessionswill likely need to be made, including health insurance cost sharing, wagegrade changes, overtime structure changes, potential layoffs and furloughs.Over 70 percent of the City’s budget is tied to salaries and benefits, and tooverlook this area is not an option. Over the past two years the City has facedapproximately $4 million in increased healthcare costs, with no additionalrevenue sources and fixed employee cost sharing.
Justlike we will be asking for feedback from our citizens, we will be doing thesame with our workers at City Hall. City Hall may need to shift to a 4.5-dayschedule for non-emergency services. The Board of Education will have to take ahard look at their budget and identify the true necessities, our children’seducation being number one. Lastly, early retirement packages may need to beoffered, with positions going unfilled through attrition or new hires beingmade at lower salaries.
Weare asking for the support of the public, City employees, Board of Finance,Board of Education and the Mayor in this effort. Nearly half of our full-timeCity employees do not live in Bristol, including some of our department heads,managers and highest earners. We need all City employees, even those who knowBristol only as a job, to take the same level of pride in their work andresponsibility in ensuring the City is financially sustainable not only forits’ employees, but also for its’ citizens. Our employees and citizens need tounderstand that the City is not on a sustainable path, and like in business,when the business is losing money changes need to be made. Some of the itemsmentioned will require a majority vote of the Joint Board, while others willrequire the Mayor and our Unions to enter negotiations. We are offering oursupport to the Mayor in these negotiations, should he offer us the opportunityto serve as counsel in them.
Weunderstand that these measures will cause concern, and that the effects couldhurt. But unless serious actions are taken, the path the City finds itself onwill end in massive yearly tax hikes that will be detrimental to the businesscommunity and our citizens. The efforts to market the city, redevelopment ofdowntown and all the efforts made by concerned citizens in the community tomake Bristol a better place will be made much more difficult, if notimpossible. It is our mission to tackle the challenge head on and treat thedisease, not just the symptoms.
Whilethis may sound gloomy, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The benefitsof getting our fiscal house in order include more efficient government, a morepredictable mill rate, greater pride in the community, increased entertainmentopportunities, and more quality businesses and citizens looking to stay orrelocate here. Just as important as cuts and changing our structure is theattraction of new industry, jobs and taxpaying citizens. But we must be able tomarket the City in order to grow our tax base, and in order to market the City,we need to get our fiscal house in order. Changing the course will requirecooperation from multiple parties, and we remain hopeful that the partiesidentified here will rise to the occasion with us and do what’s best forBristol.
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