On June 7, the City Council will consider FY2022 Budget amendments. Most Council members are mulling ideas that add – not cut – operating expenditures. Then there is Ald. DuJuan Gay (W6) who has thirty budget amendments to offer. While he “missed the deadline” for submission, he’ll try for support June 7. One “idea” he got from Stockton CA for “universal basic income” (UBI), would allocate $500,000 to UBI and “give $500 per month each to 50 needy families for a year, with no strings attached”.) Typically, “social policy” is separate legislation and not part of a budget document. Apparently, Gay also doesn’t care that Stockton CA had the largest municipal bankruptcy in the US when it filed for Chapter 9 in 2012, after years of fiscal mismanagement. Quite a role-model for Gay. Now they make another decision that defies “good fiscal management”. Surprisingly, Ald. Arnett thinks it’s a “good idea”. Some cities (and people) never learn.
Ald. Tierney (W1) wants a “pilot program” for “free bus fares” for low-income families, and hopes to “encourage ridership as the pandemic recedes”. A noble goal, no doubt. I assume she noticed that, pre-pandemic, the busses were already empty … in fact, busses in the City have been losing, over $2.5 million each year for many years! Not a pretty picture. Without the subsidy it receives from parking revenues, it would have drowned in red-ink, long ago. Why not consider vouchers for Uber or taxis and save millions on busses? Ald. Arnett (W8), Chair of the Finance Committee, wants to add $50,000 to build a public-access dock at Blue Heron Cove, currently the subject of a lawsuit by Eastport residents. Allocating funds before the suit is resolved, is curious. Are the funds contingent? Or could they be used for something else? Arnett hasn’t said. Ald. Fred Paone (W2), who said he won’t seek reelection, wanted the City to follow “constant yield”, and reduce the estimated $750,000 increase in property taxes. But when asked where he would cut $750,000 from the budget … he blinked. And withdrew his amendment.
Ald. Finlayson (W4) announced the City is considering “out-sourcing and/or combining certain services with the County”. She would “ask the community what services they would prioritize”. Unfortunately, the citizens don’t know enough to evaluate the budgetary decisions that are needed. The “average citizen” will lean to City services they “want”, rather than what they “need”. That’s a normal reaction. But that shouldn’t drive the decision. We need a critical look at the costs of “core vs non-essential” services. Core services include: Police, Fire, and Water/sewer. Everything else, from HR to Fleet Maintenance, Parks/Rec to IT, Transportation to Code Enforcement and more, should be evaluated for out-sourcing or combining with the County. We need a more efficient cost-structure. The County is more than 17x larger than Annapolis. They are better-able to handle services more cost-effectively than the City. And the City’s retirement, health and benefits obligations would be spread over a larger employee base.
Given the City’s “structural deficit”, confirmed by Finance Director Jody Dickinson, out-sourcing certain services or transferring should have been done long ago. But making tough financial decisions was never high with past or present Mayors and City Councils. Why? With a City Operating Budget that leans 70% to payroll and benefits, reductions could mean cutting jobs. For decades, the Council encouraged a growing bureaucracy. For FY2022, the City workforce totals 615 full-time employees (FTEs); that number grows to 670 FTEs, with consultants. For a City of 39,000, that staff size is way out of line with other cities: Rockville, a city of 68,000 (75% larger than Annapolis), has 525 employees; Gaithersburg, 70,000 residents, has 520 staff; nearby Bowie (pop. 59,000; +51%) has 419 city employees. On average, add 35-40% to every City employee’s compensation: an $80,000 salary costs the City an additional $32,000 in benefits. There could be a significant savings, alone, to the City budget by shifting retirement and health costs to the County or third-party contractors.
The FY2022 Budget may pass, but City expenditures and staff growth are on an unsustainable path. We heard that last year from City Manager David Jarrell. If voters/tax-payers don’t wake up … the costs to live and enjoy the Annapolis we all love, will drive more people to move elsewhere. Council members frequently say “we never hear from anyone about the Budget”.
Time to give them an ear-full: call, email to the Mayor and your Alderperson before the final budget vote on June 14!
