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Tuesday, 10 February 2009 |
By MIKE BURKHOLDER
Managing Editor
ST. MARYS — City Councilors Monday night received a letter objecting to a portion of the 2009 street program.
Lacie Staup, a resident on Scott Street, sent a letter to members of the St. Marys City Council voicing her opposition to the street’s inclusion in the program. In the letter, Staup said she, along with a handful of other residents, simply cannot afford to pay their portion of the project given the state of the economy.
Councilors approved the first reading of the measure, with a second reading scheduled for the next council meeting. St. Marys Council President Dan Hoelscher acknowledged the objection to the project.
“We had some concerns about some of the streets,” Hoelscher said. “So we’ll bring it back for the next meeting.”
The resolution initially was scheduled to be read as an emergency. Safety-Service Director Tom Hitchcock said the city has pulled streets from projects before.
“If they get a petition and do not want it done, council can change it,” Hitchcock told The Evening Leader following the meeting. “Council can always pull it — we’ve pulled streets before.”
If Scott Street is pulled from the program, Hitchcock said there are a number of options available for replacements. Another street could be added in its place or officials can decide to do another type of project.
“We’d have to look at the dollar amount,” Hitchcock said. “It just has to be something with the voted tax money. We have some other streets we can put on it.”
Hitchcock also provided councilors with the tax commissioner’s report. Receipts for the 1 percent income tax in January came in at $209,504 versus $368,857 in 2008.
“It was expected when you have layoffs,” Hitchcock said. “Part of the January 2008 receipts was a back payment to us. If you look at 2006 and 2007, it wasn’t that high.”
Receipts for 2006 were $238,624 and 233,035 in 2007. Hitchcock said those numbers more accurately reflect the collection receipts for the city.
“We will not know for sure how we are until February’s receipts,” Hitchcock said. “To see a lower income was not unexpected and we pretty much can guess February will probably be lower (than 2008).”
To help weather the economic storm, Hitchcock said a number of city projects have been delayed or put on the back burner. Hitchcock also said the number of summertime hires will be less this year than in 2008.
“We have already cut a lot of projects out of the budget,” Hitchcock said. “We aren’t going to be hiring as many summer kids. We had 19 last year, not including the pool. We are only hiring four.”
Hitchcock said the impacted summertime positions are typically filled by college or high school students and are not associated with help at the pool.
Hitchcock also said at this time, city officials have no plans for layoffs.
“We aren’t near that,” Hitchcock said. “That may be a decision longer down the road but we don’t have any intentions.”
In other business councilors:
• Approved the second reading of an ordinance to appropriate funds for the purchase of the Girty property.
• Approved the second reading of a resolution authorizing the K.C. Geiger Park Improvement Committee to obtain a liquor permit for beer sales in the park Sept. 5 and 6.
• Approved, on emergency, an ordinance affirming the agreement with the St. Marys Police Department Sergeants represented by the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.
The next meeting of the St. Marys City Council is scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 23 at the city building located along East Spring Street. It is open to the public. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 13 February 2009 )
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