08-28-61 Council Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes

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Be it remembered that the Common Council of the City of South Bend, Indiana, met in the Committee of the Whole in the Council Chambers, City Hall, on Monday, August 28, 1961, at 8:03 P.M., with all members present. The meeting was called to order by Councilman T. W. Lehman, Chairman, who presided. Councilman Lehman introduced Mayor Bruggner, who read the following address: MEMBERS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL, DEPARTMENT HEADS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: Firstly, I would like to thank and commend all of the department heads of our city government for their cooperation in following my suggestion to "Hold the Line" wherever possible on the expenditures for 1962. As you have found in the examination of the proposed budget, no salary increases have been requested and I firmly believe that the proposed budget reflects one of the basic premises of this administration: Economy and Efficiency. Secondly, I would be remiss if I failed to acknowledge with gratitude and thanks the service rendered by the Common Council in the many preliminary meetings in the preparation of the budget and for this meeting this evening. However, before discussing the 1962 budget, I would like to visit with you as to some of my policies. .Having served, for eight years as the Clerk of St. Joseph County and further, as a Controller under two Mayors, it has been my firm conviction that strict and close attention to budgets must be made by governmental officials on a daily basis - -not just at tax hearing time. This I have done. There have been sizable economies throughout the entire city government as well as the water works and sewage treatment plant. I directed the water works board to eliminate the collection department which in itself amounts to savings at an annual rate of around $80,000.00. Further at my request, certain personnel cuts were effected which will reflect savings. The same procedure is being followed in the street department as to reduction of some personnel and attempting new methods and policies for effective organization. I have directed the Board of Public Works and Safety that competitive bidding shall extend itself to gasoline,.oils, heating materials and other supplies for our moving equipment. Already we can feel the savings in the purchse of all of these commodities. While we are intenseley concerned about watching our expenditures and making the tax dollar buy as many goods and as much service as possible, we still cannot afford to be shortsighted. In past years there have been instances where budget items were stricken out with no regard to the long range best interests of the City and to the detriment of the city's growth and progress. And, we have seen that these penny -wise vut pound - foolish actions often have resulted in a lagging behind by our city in areas vital to the expansion and development of our community. We certainly do not want to waste money. We must get full measure for every dollar. And yet, we also must keep in mind that we cannot allow our city to lag behind in areas essential to our future development. Therefore, I want to re- affirm my policy in the operation of our city government. We must, we will, and we are not providing the residents of our community with economical as well as efficient city government. Now, I would like to touch on several items in the budget if you will look at your budget review, starting on page three, you will note that we have trimmed the figures in the Mayor's Office, the City Controller, City Clerk, City Attorney and City Treasurer by a total of more than $14,000.00. On Page 15, you will find the largest single increase in budget request for any single department.... in the office of the Board of Works and Safety .... an increase of $131,000.00. I would like to go into this in a little detail.... Most of this sum .... $118,000.00....is represented by a new item .... Fire Hydrant Rental. As you will remember, when the city applied for a water department rate increase for the purpose of improvement of our water system, we asked for 20 per cent. The Public Service Commission granted us an increase of only 10 per cent and ruled that the Civil City would be required to pay the Water Department $118,000.00 for rental of fire hydrants. However, in the last session of the Indiana State General Assembly I requested our local legislators to introduce legislation directing the water department to pay the city a total of $103,000.00 in lieu of taxes. This law was passed. You will find this listed as new additional revenue on page 53. So, actually, while we, are required to budget $118,000.00 for this item, we regain $103,000.00 of that in transfer of funds. Again on page 15, there is an increase of $6,000.00 in the budget for street lights and traffic signals. This is a good example of what is meant by keeping pace with our city's growth. Out city needs these additional facilities and, therefore, we must plan for them and we must pay for them. You also will note a new item for $6,500.00 under "other equipment ". This is for installation of underground gasolin tanks and results from our new policy of demanding competitive bids for all city purchases, including gasoline. Sinc we inaugurated the system of advertising for bids on gasoline, the former supplier understandably refused to provide these tanks as had been done before. However, I would like to point out that this outlay of $6,500.00 will be more than offset by money we save in the price of gasoline. On the next three pages, covering the sewer department, Morris Civic Auditorium and Engineering department.... you will find decreases of more than $10,000.00. This again reflects action by these departments on our suggestion that non- essential expenditures be eliminated or reduced to an absolute minimum. On Page 23 you will note an increase of about $5,000.00 for the Building Department. The bulk of this, more than $4,700.00, stems from the fact that we must have an additional inspector.... an assistant to the Director of sub - standa Buildings. Again here, we have stepped up our campaign to keep our city abreast of the times. Vigorous enforcement of the statute governing sub - standard homes has resulted in a tremendous increase in the work load of this department. I would also call to your attention that in the Building Department budget, as in many others, we have made a concete effort to offset some of the essential increases by cutting down on items such as office supplies, office furniture and fixtures, office equipment, stationery, and so forth. We find that with increased efficiency in our offices and closer scrutiny of day -to -day expenditures, we can effect these savings. Now, the next increase of any size comes in the police department.... on page 29.... The bulk of the $11,645.00 additional budget is accounted for by an increase of $8,000.00 in longevity pay. As you know, the salary of policemen is fixed on a standard scale of increases with additional years of duty. I might note here that this system results in experienced policemen remaining on the force longer than might otherwise be the case and the city benefits from this valuable experience.