The Auburn City Council meets Thursday night as shown on the livestream via the city's website.
Funding to operate the swimming pool at Casey Park is still included in Auburn's budget proposal, but the pool and other items could still get cut down the road.
The pool, the uncertainty over whether the Doubledays will play this season, and the possibility of cancelling the city's remaining 2020 summer events — 50% of the events had previously been cut from the current budget — have been floated as possible places for the city to save money as the city faces lower sales tax revenue projections due to the business shutdown caused by the COVID-29 pandemic.
Not opening the pool would save $76,250, according to the presentation for the current proposed budget shown to the Auburn City Council at last week's meeting. Not holding the rest of the summer events would have saved $35,000, while the potential league cancellation of the Doulbledays season would save the city $20,000.
City Manager Jeff Dygert said after Thursday's council meeting that councilors don't want these cuts to occur but said that they could return as budget amendments down the line.
"If we get into the budget and we're starting to have some tougher times than we're anticipating, those things we'll probably look to in cuts in the future, but right now it looks like we're going to hold the line with that and move forward with that budget as it was presented last week," he said.
Various Auburn city department heads spoke about the reasons why cuts were made for the budget. Some department heads were physically at city hall for the meeting, while others made their case remotely. The meeting was livestreamed at the city's website.
The proposed 2020-21 budget stands at $35,620,616, a 6% drop from the 2019-20. A $751,507 gap would be filled by the fund balance, and property taxes would go up 1.9%.
The current proposed budget has cut about $1.8 million from original budget assembled by City Comptroller Rachel Jacobs and the department heads in March. Cuts would include $443,039 for planning and code enforcement, $502,953 for the Auburn Police Department and the Auburn Fire Department, $171,000 for parks and $138,000 for street maintenance, snow removal, etc.
Auburn Police Chief Shawn Butler praised councilors for maintaining staffing but said said one of the biggest cuts under this proposed budget would be in funds intended to replace police vehicles. Councilors agreed to a fleet management plan in 2016. Butler noted manufacturing plants are not open right now anyway and the department still hasn't received vehicles it ordered this year, so the issue was a "moot point."
Councilor Jimmy Giannettino asked Butler if he believes his department's presented budget allows him "to continue the mission of the police department, provide the services that are necessary in the community and keep your police force safe?" Butler said that it would and added that "everybody understands the mission, everybody understands the position we're in. It's not just local, we're all feeling it nationwide, so they do get it."
Councilors also approved a public hearing for the budget for 5 p.m. Thursday May 21, though people will not be let into city hall because of social distancing requirements. The hearing will be held through the video conferencing service Webex. A link for the conference is set to be released next week and will be available on the city's website, City Clerk Chuck Mason said after Thursday's meeting
People will be asked to register for the online hearing two hours in advance, and those registered for the teleconference will be unmuted for the public comment portion of the hearing.
Staff writer Kelly Rocheleau can be reached at (315) 282-2243 or kelly.rocheleau@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @KellyRocheleau.
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Casey Park pool still included in Auburn's budget proposal - Auburn Citizen
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