By Rebecca HuvalThe Daily Northwestern
To tighten the city budget and relieve the $2.5 million to $4 million annual deficit, Evanston City Council discussed Monday night whether the city should cut staff and reallocate funds.
The council has debated for a month about how to fix the city’s deficit. If the proposed 2007-08 budget passes in February, Evanston taxpayers would pay about 1 percent more in property taxes. City officials said they wanted to keep the taxes low because residents have to pay additional fees, such as Cook County taxes. The total proposed budget is $186,769,007, a 0.26 percent increase over the 2006-07 budget.
To tighten the budget, the council has voted to outsource health services to hospitals and clinics, encourage early retirement and replace residents’ $3.72 recycling fee with a $5 sanitation fee. It also would consolidate the Human Resources and Facilities Management departments with other departments and cut about 26 city staff members.
Some aldermen challenged the cutbacks at the budget meeting Monday.
Ald. Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd) said the human relations director should have a year to phase out of his position so his department would have a smoother transition. Jean-Baptiste also said the city should keep the youth worker at Robert Crown Community Center, 1701 Main St.
“If we’re justifying our decisions on progressive work with youth,” Jean-Baptiste said, “it’s counter-productive for us to be cutting from our services in youth, especially to the recreation department.”
Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) said the city manager’s staff wouldn’t be able to take on the responsibilities of the human relations director, and her ward’s residents would suffer. She said the proposed cutting of the position would benefit the rich and not the poor.
The council has debated cutting the North and South Branch libraries for more than five years, but the branches still would receive funding this year.
“Poor folks are getting cut and well-to-do folks aren’t getting cut,” Rainey said. “It’s an embarrassment to this city that brags about diversity.”
Other aldermen argued that services would not leave the city if they cut certain personnel.
“We’re changing the structure of the organization,” Ald. Melissa Wynne said. “The human relations service isn’t leaving the city. It’s still present.”
The council also discussed moving $500,000 from the water fund to the city’s general fund. They voted 5-3 to keep the money in the water fund, with Alds. Delores Holmes (5th), Edmund Moran (6th), Elizabeth Tisdahl (7th), Cheryl Wollin (1st) and Melissa Wynne (3rd) opposed to moving the funds.
Rainey introduced the motion and said Evanston Water and Sewer could pay for their services with bonds instead.
Water officials said the department spends about $3 million a year to replace water mains. City Manager Julia Carroll said the department would incur debt after a few years by using bonds.
Some aldermen proposed using the $700,000 from Northwestern’s 2004 settlement over the creation of the Northeast Evanston Historical District to keep staff. NU gave the city money to keep 14 NU properties out of the restrictive district.
Wynne said the city should make budget decisions based on long-term revenues, not short-lived donations.
“Using a one-time revenue, we’ve done that too often much to our regret,” Wynne said. “I can’t support using the NU money to pay a budget hole. That’s fundamentally bad policy.”
NU paid the settlement in installments over three years. The council said NU would consider continuing its donation after the three years, and aldermen said they wanted to check in soon.
Reach Rebecca Huval at [email protected].
