02 City Council (09/17/02) - Laserfiche WebLink

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Special Meeting of the City Council September 17, 2002 Page 5 can put water on the fire, but one man cannot go inside the structure by himself. He has to wait an extra four or five minutes before another truck arrives in order to have enough men for two to go inside the structure. Mr. Evans stressed the need for caution before deciding to cut personnel. The City Manager advised that there are things that can be done to address that, such as cross training, or waiting until the other engine arrives on the scene. The City Council agreed to cut $6,000.00 from the Fire Department's Account No. 0134, Training and Tuition, leaving a balance of $21,000.00 in that account. Councilman McCarthy asked if the city went back the old way of computing overtime, how much difference would it make. Mr. Anderson said as he recalled it was an estimated increase in overtime of $50,000.00 for the Fire Department and $15,000.00 for the EMS. City Manager Malone said he was looking at a year-to-date cost of $298,840.00 in overtime and $211,500.00 was budgeted, but it does not necessarily mean it is due to that change. Mayor Pfiester announced a short break at 7:48 P.M. Mayor Pfiester reconvened the meeting at 8:04 P.M. After discussing cutting three patrolmen and six firefighters, cutting the pay increase by one-half along with the other cuts that have been made, the City Council wanted to know what the tax rate would be. Mr. Anderson advised that the cuts already made, including the petition pay for the firefighters, the pay increase in one-half, and the elimination of nine positions, would reduce the tax rate by 12.295 cents. The rate would be .68635 which would be approximately two cents under the rollback rate of .70946. Mayor Pfiester called for a show of hands of the Council Members who wanted to finish with the General Fund tonight. All of the members were in agreement to finish with the General Fund's budget during this meeting.