4/19/13 - The Brighton City Council engaged in debate on Thursday night as to which positions among city employees should be eliminated to save money in these tight economic times. Since the start of the recession, the city has been hard-pressed to balance the budget, and - with property values declining each year for the last several - has had to resort to reducing its work force to balance the budget. Brighton work force is now down by almost seven employees, according to City Council Member Jim Bohn, who outlined his own ideas for saving money at the meeting. As it turns out, they don't jibe with what City Manager Dana Foster has in his proposed budget, which resulted in some disagreement among council members. In Foster's budget the positions of two Department of Public Services employees who are retiring this year would not be filled. However, Bohn says that employee cuts have gotten to the point where services such as the DPS cannot adequately be provided to city residents, who will suffer as a result. Under Bohn's proposal, the positions of Downtown Development Authority and Community Development Director Matt Modrack and his administrative assistant, Lauri French, would be eliminated. Foster tells WHMI he respectfully disagrees with that assessment, saying the two positions are important to the city's operations overall, and not just the DDA. Bohn has long been a critic of the DDA and the fact that a portion of the annual city budget goes toward the DDA's operation, charging that the city spends too much money and attention on the downtown and not enough on the needs of its residents. He said instead of cutting more staff positions, the city should concentrate on a tough stance in its upcoming talks with the four city employee unions, all of whose contracts expire this year. Bohn suggested limiting pay increases to 1.5%, saying that, plus eliminating the DDA director's and his assistant's positions, would save the city $400,000. Council Member Claudia Roblee disagreed with Bohn, calling changing that "micromanaging" Foster on the part of council. Bohn has also pressed for a reduction in the DDA's budget, saying there are too many infrastructure needs such as streets that are being unmet. However, Mayor Jim Muzzin disagreed with Bohn, saying over half of the DDA's budget is debt service on previous city improvement projects - obligations which must, by law, be paid off. (TT)
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