BOTTOM LINE: Council passes cuts and savings ordinances
Council passes cuts and savings ordinances
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Marietta City Council took steps to adopt ordinances Tuesday night to solidify position cuts and savings on items like supplies and contract services.
During a special meeting, council conducted the first reading of five ordinances that formally abolish city positions and remove them from the city's table of organization. Council also conducted the first reading of an ordinance that will enshrine many departmental cuts to supplies, training, travel, contract services, facilities, equipment and more.
Ordinance No. 60 (24-25) abolishes the city engineer position and removes it from the city's current table of organization. Ordinance No. 61 (24-25) gets rid of the assistant city engineer position and removes it from the table of organization. Ordinance No. 62 (24-25) abolishes the engineering office manager position and cuts it from the table of organization.
Ordinance No. 63 (24-25) abolishes a clerk position in the Marietta Police Department and cuts it from the table of organization. Ordinance No. 64 (24-25) gets rid of a patrolman position in the Marietta Police Department and cuts it from the table of organization.
All of these positions were listed in a plan to cut $1.2 million that Mayor Joshua Schlicher gave to council on May 20. The plan showed that the positions listed in the ordinances are open or will soon be open and will not be filled. The plan includes 38 items to cut from departments that total $920,000 and some other items, like the amount of interest the city has received over its projections, for a total $1.2 million in cuts.
Schlicher gave the plan in response to council's directive to give them a sustainable plan of recovery concerning the city's finances by May 20. The need for the plan was the result of a city performance audit predicting the city's general fund may be depleted as soon as 2025. Council originally reacted to the audit by suggesting multiple staff cuts to city departments, including seven police department positions and two fire department positions.
The first reading of Ordinance No. 65 (24-25) was also conducted and the ordinance said it was for appropriations and transfers. According to Ward 1 Councilman Michael Scales, the ordinance involves transfers and appropriations that are for the 38 departmental cuts totaling $920,000 that were listed in Schlicher's plan.
These cuts include things such as the police department not filling two patrolmen positions and a temporary clerk position; the fire department not paying this year for a firefighter that is currently deployed and a position that will be empty next year because of retirement; the Marietta Municipal Court not filling three open positions; the city's slum and blight property demolition program shifting the funding for some properties to a county program; and the city law director's office waiting to fill an open position for an assistant law director until later in the year.
The plan, called the 2024 Strategic Plan, can be found at https://www.mariettaoh.net/news_detail_T3_R41.php.
No further action was taken by council on any of the ordinances.
All councilmembers except for At-Large Councilwoman Cassidi Shoaf were in attendance at the special meeting and only one of them commented on the ordinances.
Scales discussed the appropriations and transfers ordinance, Ordinance 65 (24-25).
"We've got $920,000 out of $1.2 million in this ordinance," Scales said about the ordinance.
According to Scales, council will pass the ordinance next week and when it passes council will have $280,00 left in cuts to reach $1.2 million.
Scales said he heard on Tuesday that a city employee will be leaving in June who is paid out of the general fund, so the $280,000 in cuts still needed will be reduced some.
According to Scales, he, City Auditor Sherri Hess and City Director of Budget and Purchasing Mitch Dimmerling will start looking at city finances on a monthly basis and a payroll basis to see where the city stands long term.
They are doing this, Scales said, "so if any alarm bells come up ... we will be ready to take action on everything."
Scales also talked briefly about the plans for next year's budget.
"The budget next year will be balanced out," Scales said. "We're not using cash carry over or any other gimmicks. Whatever we're going to get as revenue it better equal expenses, no exceptions."
According to Scales, the goal is for the new city council that takes office in 2026 to have a clean set of books going forward.
Scales confirmed after the meeting that Ordinance No. 65 (24-25) includes all 38 cuts that are listed in Schlicher's plan.
One of the cuts included in the plan is two firefighter positions not being filled, one this year due to a person's military deployment and another next year when a firefighter retires. There was no one representing the fire department at the meeting and calls for comment on fire department cuts in the plan have not been returned as of Tuesday evening.
According to Scales the city is still looking at the revenue side of the plan for the city's finances. He said council and city staff are looking at revenue projections and they are seeing an uptick in revenue from interest on investment and income taxes. He said the interest is not a fixed amount and will go down as soon as interest rates go down and it is not something that can be included for cuts to next year's budgets.
He also mentioned the city will have a new revenue stream in this year or next year.
"We're going to have another stream of income sometime ... this year or next year, and that's called the marijuana tax money," Scales said.
He said that will be from the legalization of recreational marijuana in Ohio.
Scales seemed to feel positively about the plan, saying the way the plan is going the city is moving in the right direction for the first time. He expressed thanks for the work city employees put into the plan.
After the meeting, Clerk of Council Michele Newbanks clarified some information regarding the ordinance that will remove one patrolmen position for the Marietta Police Department from the city's table of organization.
The plan that was submitted by Schlicher showed two patrolmen positions would not be filled. According to Newbanks, there will be a total of three patrolmen positions between now and the end of the year that will become empty and will be abolished.
She said the decision was made that each position would be abolished after the person leaves the position. The position related to Ordinance 64 (24-25) is for a position where the employee has already left. There is one patrolman that is set to leave next month and another that plans on leaving toward the end of the year. She said both of their positions will be abolished when they leave.
There will be a special council meeting for the second reading of the ordinances at 6 p.m. June 3 in Room 10 of the Armory. The Finance Committee will have a meeting Thursday at 5:15 p.m. and the Employee Relations Committee will have a meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, both in Room 10 of the Marietta Armory. The Utility Billing Department's organizational chart will be discussed, along with longevity pay for city employees and transitioning employees to pay ranges.
Michelle Dillon can be reached at mdillon@newsandsentinel.com