New budget makes its way to A2 city council next month

The season of spreading the wealth has arrived. In one month, the Ann Arbor City Council will begin official deliberations on how to distribute its annual $166-million budget.

Councilmember Tobi Hanna-Davies (D-1st Ward) said she does not expect there will be much debate about how city funds will be spent, but added that it is a difficult outcome to predict.

"It varies a lot from year to year," Hanna-Davies said.

Hanna-Davies, who was first elected in 1992, said the process should go smoothly this year because all members of council were re-elected in last year's election.

"It's more predictable because everyone has been through it before," said Hanna-Davies, the council's most senior member.

The budget will officially be submitted to the council by City Administrator Neil Berlin on April 20.

Berlin said he met with every department head in the city during the past few weeks to determine their budget needs.

"What we did this year is give each department a target figure for what we (can afford)," Berlin said, adding that "there's not much point" in departments requesting more than the city can offer.

City department heads said they are satisfied with the budget allocation process.

"I think it's a good opportunity for (Berlin) to look over our budget," said John Newman, director of the city's Solid Waste Department. "Basically, our budget (is) the same as it has been in the past."

"I think the fire department budget is in pretty good shape," said George Marcus, chief of the Ann Arbor Fire Department.

"As an overall view, the city's ... budgets have been shrinking," Marcus said.

Marcus said departments citywide, including the fire department, received enough funding to operate, but have not been given funds to add more personnel.

"We could use some more staff support," he said.

Marcus said the fire department is especially in need of fire inspectors and public educators.

Alan Burns, the city budget director, said the 300-page proposed budget will be balanced but will likely spend surplus revenues from earlier years. Currently, Ann Arbor has savings of $8.1 million, he said.

Burns said he does not expect the council to enact many changes from Berlin's proposal.

"They've tweaked it a bit, but I've never seen it substantially changed," Burns said.

About $45 million is collected through property taxes for city departments that do not include schools, Burns said. The rest comes from fees, fines and state and government grants. Schools are funded by a separate property tax.

Burns said the state contributes about $13 million and the federal government contributes an additional $2 million to the budget. The federal share has been shrinking at an annual rate of between $50,000-$100,000, Burns said.

Some grants and revenues can only be spent by certain departments. Betsy Lindsley of the Housing Commission said all of her funding comes directly from the federal government.

"We simply submit a budget to (Housing and Urban Development) at over at the local office in Detroit," Lindsley said.

The public debate will begin as city councilmembers start submitting amendments to the proposed budget.

"I expect there will be quite a few amendments," Hanna-Davies said.

Council probably will have several meetings on the budget throughout the second half of April, Hanna-Davies said.

Unlike on the federal level, a government shutdown is impossible under city charter constraints. If council does not agree on a budget by May 1, the administrator's proposed budget will automatically be accepted.

03-20-98