City Looking at Revenue Shortfall
By ANNE HOLLIDAY
WESB/WBRR News Director
The City of Bradford is looking at a budget deficit that could be as much as half a million dollars.
During a mid-year budget review city council work session Tuesday, department heads learned that timber revenues could be anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000 less than projections.
"There's a huge dark cloud on the horizon," said City Clerk John Peterson, "and that dark cloud, unfortunately, is the timber revenue."
"It's one thing to be hopeful, but it's another thing to be realistic," said Mayor Tom Riel. "Chances are extremely great that we're going to be short hundreds of thousands of dollars."
"The timber has been, pretty much, dead in the water all year," he said. "It doesn't seem feasible that it could rebound enough by the end of the year to make up for the shortfall that we're going to experience."
Add to the decrease in timber revenue increased health insurance costs and a decrease in wage tax revenues.
Riel said that, while city employees have been finding ways to cut back, they have to do more.
He said they have to treat everything from lights to air conditioning to city vehicles "as if they were paying the bill for it."
"The taxpayers can't afford it right now, especially with the crunch they're in where 800 people locally are out of a job and hundreds of people have taken a cut in pay," he said. "It's bad."
He added that, with all the cutting each department did last year, this year will be even harder.
Riel did say no one on council is looking to a tax increase to fill the budget gap.
City controller Ron Orris told council they can't wait until the end of the year to see how the situation plays out.
"You need to come up with a percentage to cut the budgets right now," he said. "You can not spend the rest of the year with this budget. You need to cut it. You need to cut it now."
"It could be an F5 tornado or it just be a mild thunderstorm with a little bit of lightning," said Councilman Bob Onuffer, who is in charge of accounts and finances for the city. Either way, he said, they have to prepare.
WESB/WBRR News Director
The City of Bradford is looking at a budget deficit that could be as much as half a million dollars.
During a mid-year budget review city council work session Tuesday, department heads learned that timber revenues could be anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000 less than projections.
"There's a huge dark cloud on the horizon," said City Clerk John Peterson, "and that dark cloud, unfortunately, is the timber revenue."
"It's one thing to be hopeful, but it's another thing to be realistic," said Mayor Tom Riel. "Chances are extremely great that we're going to be short hundreds of thousands of dollars."
"The timber has been, pretty much, dead in the water all year," he said. "It doesn't seem feasible that it could rebound enough by the end of the year to make up for the shortfall that we're going to experience."
Add to the decrease in timber revenue increased health insurance costs and a decrease in wage tax revenues.
Riel said that, while city employees have been finding ways to cut back, they have to do more.
He said they have to treat everything from lights to air conditioning to city vehicles "as if they were paying the bill for it."
"The taxpayers can't afford it right now, especially with the crunch they're in where 800 people locally are out of a job and hundreds of people have taken a cut in pay," he said. "It's bad."
He added that, with all the cutting each department did last year, this year will be even harder.
Riel did say no one on council is looking to a tax increase to fill the budget gap.
City controller Ron Orris told council they can't wait until the end of the year to see how the situation plays out.
"You need to come up with a percentage to cut the budgets right now," he said. "You can not spend the rest of the year with this budget. You need to cut it. You need to cut it now."
"It could be an F5 tornado or it just be a mild thunderstorm with a little bit of lightning," said Councilman Bob Onuffer, who is in charge of accounts and finances for the city. Either way, he said, they have to prepare.
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