Grosse Pointe Shores Council Trudging Through Budget

A line-item review by the City Council of its 2011/2012 fiscal year budget earlier this week garnered only one major decision: There will be no cuts or changes to the public safety department's budget. 

The council has had two lengthy meetings in the last two weeks specifically dedicated to reviewing the budget. During the first, City Manager Brian Vick reviewed each department's budget, a vehicle replacement schedule and recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Committee.

During the second meeting earlier this week, the council gathered in chambers until shortly after 1 a.m. The council essentially generated a list of ideas of where to trim in the budget to get it balanced.

The budget shortfall is about $354,000. The move to contract dispatch and lockup services out to Grosse Pointe Farms helped close the gap a bit more from an original shortfall of about $494,000. 

Annually the consolidated dispatch/lockup would have a savings of $250,000 when at full staff. In the next fiscal budget, the move saved about $140,000 because the department had been missing one full-time employee since earlier this year when a dispatcher left to go work for Grosse Pointe Park.

The council began with the public safety department budget during line-item discussions but ultimately decided not to make any changes. The decision in part stems from the ranking residents provided regarding city services and public safety, which was near the top.

Council members also agreed crime control offered by the department and the specialized triple training—including paramedic certification that allows medical care to be administered—is one of the attractive features for potential new homeowners. 

Among other ideas:

• Council discussed changing garbage collection to a curbside pickup instead of a door-side pickup, which Vick estimated would save about $20,000. The idea of outsourcing the garbage pickup was also discussed briefly but then nixed as the council would prefer to keep it in-house.
• Leaf collection was also discussed during which Vick suggested having residents bag their leaves instead of vacuuming as the current practice. Vick noted this would be an unpopular idea but said it would save the city in time because it would make removal and hauling away much easier.
• Vick is awaiting a proposal from Eastside Tennis to outsource lessons. The city has paid for this service in the past above and beyond what the residents paid collectively to receive the lessons. The idea of the outsourcing is to eliminate the Shores from having a financial role because the fees would be paid directly to Eastside, Vick said.
• Adjustments may be made to the temperature of the pool. Reducing it by only a few degrees could net a sizable savings and open/lap swimming may be changed to allow lifeguard scheduling only during peak times.
• Councilman Dan Schulte attempted to bring up discussion regarding phone bills, explaining he believes the city could get a better rate to lower the costs for both cellphones and landlines. Mayor James Cooper told him he was getting off track and that the rates could not be changed and ushered Councilman Ted Kedzierski, who is the finance committee chairman, to move the meeting along. Schulte said not holding service providers' feet to the fire is part of the budget problem in the Shores because its not requiring them to give the best rate. Cooper again disagreed and ushered the meeting along.
• Similarly, Kedzierski requested that the council ask the Shores legal representation—from Clark Hill—to lower their price to meet the next highest bid for legal services, explaining he felt the Shores could have had just as good of service from one of the firms that bid $10,000 or $12,000 less. Geraghty said the reason for selecting the firm they did stemmed from the experience of the attorneys who would be involved in Shores business. The lower bids, he said, were for work from inexperienced attorneys. Kedzierski disagreed. Ultimately, the council decided it couldn't hurt to ask Clark Hill to reduce their fees.
• Council members shared ideas amongst each other before the meeting and a short conversation regarding layoffs or reduction in employee pay was brought up. At least one councilman, Brian Geraghty, opposes the idea of trimming employee pay, explaining it would lend itself to losing valuable employees. Geraghty also said the pay rates offered by the Shores are competitive and meant to entice quality employees.

Council must have a budget passed before the beginning of the new fiscal year, which is July 1.