Two years ago, several members of the City Council, including Eugene Jankowski, expressed reservations about creating the position of assistant city manager.
Even after Gretchen DiFante was hired, some members tried to undo what had been done.
After a budget session Monday night where the council learned of an initiative DiFante has been deeply involved in that will save the city nearly $240,000, Jankowski said maybe this assistant city manager job wasn't such a bad idea after all.
"She's been multitasking on many different projects and now I'm starting to see some results on that," said Jankowski, now president of the council. "I'm thinking at this point, if that continues, that's going to be a good thing. More heads in the game kind of making these decisions is helping out, instead of Jason (Molino, city manager) trying to do all of this on his own."
What has gotten Jankowski's attention, along with the rest of the council, is a plan to switch the city's workers' compensation insurance to a self-funded pool instead of purchasing insurance.
Premiums and other related expenses keep going up. In 2011, workers comp cost the city $229,520. The projected 2016 expense, if the city kept with the current system, would exceed $700,000.
The self-funded plan will be an estimated $238,660 less than the state plan.
Several members of city staff, including Molino, have worked on the new program, but DiFante, who earns $75,000 a year, has taken the lead on research and organization and made the presentation during Monday's budget session.
Jankowski also noted that DiFante's efforts in the city's flood insurance program are also saving taxpayers money.
"I'm starting to see the assistant city manager is making a big difference in these areas," Jankowski said.
He cautioned, however, that it's the council's job to monitor how city management is doing and ensure things continue to move in a positive direction, and if that changes, take action to get the city back on track.
"The council needs to make sure things get directed and redirected so it doesn't cost taxpayers more money," Jankowski said.
Monday, the council heard reports from several department heads, including police and fire, on proposed spending for 2016-17 and nothing seemed to raise any red flags with council members. The meeting was controversy free. Jankowski said he doesn't anticipate that changing as the council works through the budget, because prior years have pretty much weeded out questionable expenses and the city is now on a sound financial footing.
The proposed spending from all funds for 2016-17 is $24,798,158. The general fund expenditure is proposed at $16,204,570. That's an annual increase of $499,806.
Under the proposed plan, the property tax would increase by 13 cents, putting the rate a $9.29 per thousand of assessed value. The tax levy would increase by $55,621, or 1.10 percent.
The city needs to take advantage of its own turnaround and the overall positive direction of the national economy, Jankowski said, and look to the future.
"Now is the time to build," Jankowski said. "The economy seems to be growing slowly across the country, so now we can start to slowly build on our end of it."
