07-13-09 Common Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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REGULAR MEETING JULY 13, 2009 Councilmember Oliver Davis asked if there was any more feedback into getting sponsors for the Parks? Mayor Luecke stated that the Parks Department is actively considering the creation of a Parks Foundation. Which would supplement revenues for parks, and are in the process of requesting an interview with a number of people throughout the community to get feedback on that, but as they looked to other communities, they see that there are some Park Foundations that are able to raise money privately and initiate some of those discussions on sponsorship more readily than a governmental unit can. Councilmember Rouse stated that one of the criticisms that they hear about South Bend is that it has a disproportionate number of not-for-profits. Mayor Luecke stated that as a county seat, generally all county seats have a higher percentage of governmental usage. He stated that South Bend is fortunate enough to have two wonderful medical facilities that are not-for-profit in this community that provide great healthcare for the residents. He stated that South Bend has great educational institutions that provide a great service and are know nationally for this area. Not-for-profits are given that status for a reason, because they provide some benefit to the community. It is really a decision at the State Level to give that not-for-profit status, they do provide those services to the community and if they had to pay for with tax dollars would certainly cost a great deal of money. Mayor Luecke stated that as they are shifting from a primarily reliance on property taxes to a balanced reliance between property taxes and local income taxes, the not-for-profits actually end up paying more of their own way, because obviously the employees that they hire will be paying those local income taxes just as everyone else does. If fact, some of the not-for-profits, some of the educational institutions and the health care institutions pay some pretty good salaries, so there will be contributions made in that regard. He stated that it is certainly a challenge for South Bend and acknowledged that the voluntary contribution recently made by the University of Notre Dame to the City of South Bend, St. Joseph County, Mishawaka and Roseland. He stated that it was a thoughtful and generous contribution on their part. He stated that the City appreciates the assistance although it does not come anywhere near meeting the $22 million dollar shortfall, but he certainly appreciates the contribution. He stated that some of the other not-for-profits have in fact entered into an agreement as there has been new development to either pay taxes that had been paid on the property before they acquired it so that there is not a loss of revenue, or to make some payments similar to what their taxes would be in recognition of the services that they receive. He stated that he has had discussions with some of those not-for-profits that have the capacity he believes to help carry some of the costs of providing services to the residents of South Bend. Councilmember Henry Davis asked what departments have been asked to reduce their number of take home cars? Mayor Luecke stated that they are looking at all departments, but for instances in Public Works, the City may have similar major pieces of equipment owned by two different divisions and as it is analyzed they will look to see if that piece of equipment can be shared. In particular for vehicles that have only a few hundred dollars of operational use a year, so that is one of the areas that is being looked at. He stated that they will review the police take home cars, when they initiated that program in his first year in office as Mayor, he believed that they actually believed there to be a cost savings from the take home program, because the other way to do it is that you are running cars 24 hours a day, and wear them out pretty quickly, and have to buy them more frequently. They will re- analyze that to see if they are still correct. He stated that it is his expectation that the costs will be pretty much the same versus running cars 24 hours, if that’s the case, then the obviously the side benefits of the take home program would indicate to the City in keeping that program. Councilmember Henry Davis stated that he appreciates the contribution that Notre Dame is giving to the City of South Bend, but wanted to remind everyone that they tried to pass 15