Upcoming Events
- Senior Citizens’ Holiday Party. Tuesday, Dec. 8th. HHts. Community Center. 12:30-3:30 pm.
- H1N1 Flu Shots. Fire Chief Turner announced that an HINI flu shot clinic is being planned for early December. Details TBA.
- Rain Barrel Clinic. Service Director Thom Evans reported that the Cuyahoga County Soil and Water Conservation District and the Friends of Euclid Creek will be co-sponsoring a Rain Barrel Clinic on Feb. 23rd at the HHts. Community Center. Rain barrels can be attached to residential gutter systems, to catch run-off from roofs. The collected water can then be used to water lawns, gardens, etc.
Heads Up—New Fees Assessed
Service Director Thom Evans also reported that the N.E. Ohio Regional Sewer District is planning to assess additional monthly fees on all residential and commercial property owners to cover the cost of a new regional storm water management program. Owners of smaller homes will have to pay about $ 50 additional each year.
Heads Up---Neighborhoods with Water Detention/Retention Basins
Last night, the Council Drainage Committee discussed a report that detailed the condition of the many water detention/retention basins scattered throughout the city. Committee chair, Councilwoman Cathy Murphy, stated that she hoped to use the report to develop appropriate maintenance standards for the basins.
Several challenges exist with regard to that plan. First, the basins are not uniform in design or construction (some are even underground). Second, the identity of the individuals or entities who own and/or are responsible for some of the basins (such as the one next to Hawthorne Drive) is unclear. Still, the report is a place to start, to insure the proper functioning of the city's storm water management system.
Red Flags Abound
It is Mayor Coleman's responsibility to keep council informed about city business and upcoming agenda items prior to council meetings. In fact, council members receive “packets’ of information from the mayor every Friday.
I get very suspicious when important information is withheld and/or not provided to council members in a timely manner and is, instead, delivered to them as a meeting begins.
Such was the case last night.
There were 3 different financial resolutions listed on the Nov. 24th agenda, for action by council. Council, apparently, did not receive any information, prior to the council meeting, about any of them. Red Flag.
The resolutions asked council to approve appropriations of money: 1) to tide the city over between January 1st until the 2010 budget is passed; to transfer money from the general tax fund to the city’s capital improvement fund; and 3) to cover additional, unbudgeted expenses for 2009---i.e., to cover overspending by the administration during this past year.
Finance Director Tony Ianiro distributed information pertaining to the third resolution only (the one pertaining to 2009 overspending) just before the council meeting began. He did not provide council with any information about the other two items that were listed on the agenda for council action.
Call me paranoid, but I always think that the withholding of information until just prior to a council meeting does not bode well. Such behavior makes me wonder whether the administration is trying to slip something by council or is trying to minimize bad news by preventing council members from having enough time to see, digest and analyze pertinent information before making a decision or voting on an agenda item.
Either could have been the case last night. Council President Scott Mills allowed for a first reading of all three resolutions (rather than calling for an immediate vote) and then immediately referred them to the Legislative & Finance Committee for review---which will slow down the process and bring about full and appropriate discussion between council and the administration before any final action is taken on them.
This morning, I asked Finance Director Ianiro for a copy of the information sheet that he passed out at last night’s council meeting and for some other financial information as well. He promptly complied with my request. Thank you, Mr. Ianiro.
It appears the administration overspent its budget by over $ 92,000. That may look like a drop in the bucket compared to the city’s $ 17 million+ budget, but it is worth a good discussion nonetheless----particularly as almost half of the deficit spending is attributable to the city’s increasingly problematic recreation department.
Point—Counterpoint (From Last Night’s Council Meeting)
- Point. Current projections are that the city will spend spend a total of $17,178,848 in 2009.
- Counterpoint. Highland Heights has approximately 8,800 residents. That means the city spent $ 1,952.14 per resident in 2009. I'll have to do some more research to find out how that compares with other cities' spending.
- Point. The city overspent its budget (across the board) by $92,475, or .054 % of its entire budget.
- Counterpoint. The original budget projection was that the city would spend all but $283,000 of its 2009 revenue. That figure now is smaller, due to the $92,475 in over-spending. The final figure could be even smaller if (as it likely) the budget’s revenue projections were inflated.
- Point. Finance Director Tony Ianiro is asking council to approve an additional transfer of $ 41,675 from the general fund to cover expenditures by the city’s recreation department.
- Counterpoint. The recreation department already received an infusion of additional taxpayer money in the beginning of the year (in addition to the automatic 1 mil that they get from property taxes), so this transfer is in addition to that. Significantly, this is the first year—ever---that the Recreation Department projected in its budget that it would spend more than it took in as revenue.
The current actual year-to-date numbers show the true extent of the Recreation Department's deficit spending.
According to detail reports provided by the city’s finance director, the city Recreation Department had $ 615,000 in revenue in 2009 but spent $ 733,512—that’s a difference of $ 118,512 (or approximately 19 % of its income). That's how much it actually deficit-spent this year. - Point. Councilman Ted Anderson announced last night that he again wanted to discuss his pet project, the proposed $ 300,000+ old pool renovation project, during the Dec. 15th Council Meeting. That meeting is Mr. Anderson’s last meeting as a councilmember, and it is also the last council meeting for 2009.
- Counterpoint One. Although he was anxious to continue his attempt to steamroll over the old pool house renovation project, Councilman Anderson was reluctant to discuss a more urgent financial matter pertaining to the park.
When giving his report about the Park & Recreation Commission’s November meeting, Councilman Anderson entirely neglected to mention one very significant (and potentially very costly) item: the city’s swimming pool is leaking and has been leaking for quite some time.
It was only after the subject was brought up by several sharp-eyed council members (who took the time to actually read the cryptic minutes from that meeting) that Mr. Anderson acknowledged that the problem existed---and then he immediately (but unsuccessfully) attempted to downplay its significance.
Apparently the city’s swimming pool has been leaking since 2008, the leak got worse in 2009, efforts to stop the leak (by re-caulking and re-painting the pool this year) have failed, a significantly large sum of capital improvement money may need to be spent in 2010 to get the leak fixed (tearing up the part of the pool itself may be required), and council probably won't know the true cost of that repair until spring. - Counterpoint Two. As readers of this blog are aware, Councilman Ted Anderson has regularly and uniformly pointed to the city’s 8 week summer day camp program as the justification for spending $ 300,000+ to renovate the old pool house building.
The stats about that program are in. According to Finance Director Tony Ianiro, 108 families/households paid to have children participate in at least one week of the 8 week camp program this year. (I had previously heard that 1/3 of those households were nonresidents, so that means that we are talking about maybe 80 HHts family who participated in that program in 2009).
According to the 2009 financial numbers, the camp program was a significant money loser for the city. $ 89,282.00 was spent on the camp, but only $ 61,475.50 in fees were collected. That’s a $ 27,806 deficit. That is not a new trend. The 8 week summer day camp has experienced similar financial losses over the last few years.
I have to admit that I have yet to fully understand why Councilman Ted Anderson thinks that it makes good sense to spend a huge amount of additional taxpayer money to renovate a building for a summer camp program that not only loses a lot of money every year, but also is a significant contributor to the recreation department’s overall deficit-spending.
The Bottom Line
- There is only so much money to go around.
- I wonder about the priorities of Councilman Anderson, Recreation Director Dave Ianiro and the Parks & Recreation Committee. Why is renovating the old pool house their top priority, when the park presents other, more pressing safety and/or repair issues? And why would they keep pursing the old pool house renovation project now that they know that the city is likely facing a big repair bill for the pool? Isn't getting the pool fixed more important?
- I wonder whether residents and council shouldn’t expect Recreation Director Dave Ianiro to get his own (financial) house in order before entertaining any more requests for additional investments of taxpayer money for the programs and facilities that he oversees.
- I also wonder: does Recreation Director Dave Ianiro really not understand that he will be a lot more credible, in asking for money, if he first shows that he can wisely spend the approximately $ 615,000 in revenue that the recreation department already receives---and does he not realize that he has yet to make that showing?
The discussion on December 15th should be interesting. I'm looking forward to being there. As always, I promise to keep you posted.
End.
