Green Bay gets no increase in taxes The city cuts school payments, keeps some positions By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle After 7 1/4 hours of discussion and debate, the Green Bay City Council passed its budget early Wednesday morning. The council passed - at 3:45 a.m - a no-tax-increase budget as Mayor Jim Schmitt had proposed in October, but there were twists and turns along the way. They included cuts in economic development and cell phones, a 29 percent pay cut for a mayoral assistant, and the return of two positions to the police budget. The major developments occurred Tuesday, as compromises between the city and police and fire unions allowed Ladder Co. 5 and three community police officers to be returned to the budget in exchange for overtime and policy changes and clothing allowance cuts. "I did not want to walk in with a budget with a lot of loose ends," Schmitt said. "When a budget passes 11-1, it shows the City Council is very much behind the financial plan for the city." That didn't entirely satisfy many of the people who spoke during Tuesday's public forum before the budget debate. It definitely didn't satisfy Ald. Gary Kriescher, the only council member to vote against the final budget. "They (council members) don't listen to their constituents," he said in explaining his "no" vote. "People told them what they wanted and they did exactly the opposite. They said they were willing to pay extra, and the council totally ignored them. "They say nobody comes to the meetings, and when they do, we ignore them and then they don't come any more." Kriescher said he did not know why that was the case "unless they're a bunch of yes-men following what the mayor's saying." The final budget will keep property taxes for the city at the same mill rate - 9.78 percent - as last year. (The actual levy is up 2.2 percent because of growth.) That means the tax for a $100,000 house is $978 for 2004 for city purposes. That had been the mayor's goal. "We realized our objectives. We maintained quality services and froze the property tax," Schmitt said. "There was a lot of give-and-take, a lot of adjustments. I think it was what people wanted to see." But the road there wasn't the same one the mayor had mapped. Changes included: - The cutting of $15,000 for Advance, the economic development arm of the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce. The spending has been a target of aldermen for several years because of the chamber's political activities. Last year, the amount was approved with the requirement that Advance provide quarterly reports on what it did with the money. Council members said they never saw reports, and the money was taken out. - A crime prevention coordinator position was returned to the police budget at a cost of $54,000, which was paid for by removing $54,000 from the department's overtime budget. Ald. Andy Nicholson fought the move, saying he had been told by some police the position wasn't needed. The position coordinates neighborhood watch programs, among other duties. The addition passed 7-5. - Another traffic officer was added for $72,000, to be paid for by additional revenues from the tickets the officer would write. It passed on a 10-2 vote. - A clerk in the detectives' office at the Police Department was reinstated, at a cost of $36,500, on a 12-0 vote. - The city voted to stop payments of $40,000 a year to the Green Bay Area School District for rental of facilities. The 8-4 vote reflected feelings that the city was paying too much for crossing guards and liaison officers that should be in the school budget. - The council voted to list pay raises at 1.88 percent, the amount agreed to by city unions, rather than 2 percent as had been listed in the budget. - A vote cut $10,000 in various cell phone budget listings. - On a 7-5 vote, the council cut the salary of mayoral chief of staff Grant Staszak to $34,902 from $48,992 at the request of Ald. Guy Zima, who disparaged Staszak and said the positions of chief of staff and intergovernmental affairs coordinator should get equal pay. - An additional $10,000 in revenue was added for the sale of vehicles. Moves that failed included: - Cutting a crime analyst position, which failed on a 9-3 vote. - An attempt by Zima to return bulk garbage pickup for dwellings with more than four families failed 7-5. The move would have cost $78,000. - A move to return $38,900 to the Parks budget to keep playgrounds that were being cut lost on a 6-6 tie vote. - A special facilities manager in the Parks department was kept on an 11-1 vote. - $4,000 in temporary help was kept in the Municipal Court budget. - A payroll coordinator position in the Finance Department, costing $40,997, was kept. - An attempt by Zima to put $130,000 back in the Parks budget and remove fire inspection fees, expected to bring in $120,000, balancing those with $250,000 in the city's leftover funds from this year, was voted down 7-5. When the moves were done, the tally showed the city had cut a net $43,300 from the budget. The council then voted to add $20,000 to the celebrations budget (which had been cut earlier) for the city's 150th anniversary celebration next year, and $23,300 to the Parks budget, thus bringing the net gain to zero. "I still think they could have kept a few more of the summer park programs for kids," Zima said. "And I think we could have used some of the surplus to pay for things without raising the tax rate. Other than that, I felt (the mayor) did a pretty good job in hard times."