Sheboygan Mayor Offers His 2011 Budget

Link to October 5 Sheboygan Press article, "'11 budget proposes cutting 24 positions".

Excerpt: A total of 24 employees — including seven police officers, six firefighters, six Department of Public Works employees, two in general government and three Mead Public Library staffers — would lose their jobs under Mayor Bob Ryan's 2011 budget submitted to the Common Council on Monday night.

It's the second year in a row extensive layoffs have been proposed by Ryan to avoid increasing the city property tax levy, which last year was $20,843,745. The 2009 levy was $20,950,018.

Ryan's budget was put together under guidelines from the council calling for no increase in the levy from 2010, a zero-based budgeting process by department heads and no fund equity applied, as was done last year when $600,000 in reserves was used to balance the budget.

Under Ryan's budget, total spending would drop slightly more than 3 percent to $54,683,650 while expected revenues would drop $961,687, or 2.74 percent, from 2010. The drop in revenue includes a $474,500 decrease in interest on investments, a casualty of the sour economy, city Finance Director James Amodeo wrote in his executive summary presented to the Common Council on Monday.

[snip]

Funding for the Mead Public Library would drop $207,419, or more than 20 percent, from 2010's $1.042 million. That would not meet the so-called "maintenance of effort" required by the state, Ryan acknowledged, likely forcing the Mead Library out of the Eastern Shores Library System, a consortium of libraries in Sheboygan and Ozaukee County that allows them to share materials. Mead is the largest ESLS library, by far.

According to 2009 Wisconsin Public Library Service Data, Mead Public Library municipal appropriation was $2,629,075.   I'm trying to figure out where $1,042,000 came from.

Link to Mead Public Library 2011 Budget Reduction scenario.

Link to Local per capita tax support & staffing comparison.

Related articles:
Officials face $1,500,000 budget deficit in 2011.  (6/10/2010)
Council approves Mayor's new appointments to library board.  (4/28/2010)
Mayor questioned about library board appointments.  (4/26/2010)
Sheboygan Press Editorial Board supports library funding deal.  (11/27/2009)
Library likely to maintain its Maintenance of Effort funding.  (11/24/2009)
Update on library's Maintenance of Effort.  (11/20/2009)
Maintenance of Effort and the Mead Public Library.  (7/6/2009)