Mayor Dow's 2004 Budget Message

Aug 19th, 2003

Mayor Mike Dow presented his 2004 Budget Message to the Mobile City Council Tuesday, August 19, 2003.

Here are the highlights:

This is a balanced but flat Budget, with no raises for employees, no increases in funding (in fact most are cut another 10% from last year's levels) for the organizations and events that the city traditionally helps fund, and no extra money for capital improvements such as drainage work, cleaning out ditches and fixing potholes. This Budget will keep city services operating, but there will be little improvements to those services due to the lack of revenues.

Mayor Dow is not recommending any employee layoffs as a way to find revenues or to fund raises.

Mayor Dow is recommending the city bond out its Police and Fire Pension Fund. If action is not taken the city will have to make a $12-million dollar payment. When the Pension Fund is bonded out at a lower interest rate, there could be a one time savings of $8-million dollars that the city would no longer be responsible for in this budget cycle. However, Mayor Dow says the city will not use this one time savings for raises or for capital projects. He says that would be irresponsible when the city has a greater need to shore up operations.

Mayor Dow says a projected savings of $2.5 million which may result from bonding out the Pension Fund should not be used for annual raises-since the savings is speculative and not nearly enough. However, Dow says the city could use the savings for an employee bonus.

Mayor Dow says the city's greatest challenge and most serious problem concerns Public Safety. Experienced Police Officers and Fire Medics are leaving the city for higher paying jobs. According to Police Chief Sam Cochran, Mobile is losing one experienced officer per week. This attrition problem according to Mayor Dow has become an epidemic. Mayor Dow says the only way to stem the tide of employees leaving is to give them raises they deserve. That is exactly what he would like to do. However, that takes a revenue source. While a proposal for a garbage fee is not in the budget, Mayor Dow is asking the Council to consider voting for one. He will offer a resolution for a $15.00 per month garbage fee at next week's City Council meeting.

In the Mayor's proposal, the garbage fee would allow the city to add 5% to all merit employees maximum salary, 5% to their starting salary and give a 5% raise to all city employees effective January 1, 2004. What's more, the Mayor wants to give a 10% incentive pay increase for members of the Police Department's SWAT Team, Fire Department's Hazmat Unit, the Bomb Squad, Fire Medics and for the city's new one-man garbage truck drivers. The proposal also includes a $10.00 per diem for all sworn Public Safety Officers and Fire Rescue Officers. This could all be accomplished with $6.5-million dollars on an annual basis. The Mayor would like to see the remaining revenue-about $3-million -- freed up for neighborhood drainage projects, parks, and capital expenditures for the city's motor pool and buildings and grounds.

The Mayor is also making an appeal to our neighbors who live in West Mobile. Mayor Dow says "Let's make them an offer they can't refuse". The Mayor hopes people who live in the city's police jurisdiction will be the first to vote to annex –to become a part of the city of Mobile. The Mayor wants to build a City Hall West, to give people who live in the area the same resources and services that are available downtown. He also wants to build a new park, and hold regularly scheduled meetings to address any problems and concerns people have.

As Mayor Dow says you cannot cut your way to prosperity-especially when the only thing left in this budget to cut-is employees.

You may view Mayor Dow's entire budget Message as well as the Budget itself on the City of Mobile website.