Council Tackles Task Of Spending The City’s Money Most Effectively

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By Tammy Gray-Searles
    With a balanced budget in hand, the Holbrook City Council spent several hours in a work session Tuesday evening reviewing the cuts made to reduce spending and determining how city money could most effectively be spent.
    The job was not finished by the end of the work session, however, as several council members left the meeting, leaving less than a quorum available to finish the job. Mayor Jeff Hill was unable to attend the meeting, as he was working out of town. Councilman Charles Haussman received an urgent phone call, and told the council that he would need to excuse himself, but asked that they first review the golf course budget. Following lengthy discussion regarding the golf course, Haussman asked to be excused from the rest of the meeting, and the council excused his absence. Councilmen Stuart Szink and Phil Cobb departed following Haussman, offering no explanation, other than Cobb commenting that Szink had asked him for a ride home.
    During the time spent on the budget, the council made several changes and asked for more information on several expenditures, noting that they want to look at the budget as a whole and ensure that money is spent on the most vital services.
    The council approved some additional expenditures, such as the hiring of an administrative assistant/deputy clerk who will assist both the city clerk and the new city manager, the purchase of new vehicles for several departments, an additional position in the public works department and funds for construction of a new fence around the cemetery.
    Items the council eliminated from the already stripped-down budget include a cement pad and parking lot paving at the library, renovation of the old community building next to the library, replacement of fencing at the Hunt Park ball field, renovation of the fire department building on Buffalo Street next to the police department and renovation of the old library building next to city hall.
    “We need to look at the big picture,” Councilman Kent Darris remarked as the council made the cuts. “How can we spend money in parks when basic things like water and streets need so much repair?”
    The council spent considerable time discussing ways to fund regular maintenance and regular replacement of necessary items such as equipment and vehicles. The members generally agreed that it was important to craft a budget that would put the city back on track for regular replacement of such items before they become inoperable and regular maintenance of existing facilities.
    Haussman noted that he anticipates the city’s financial situation will become worse, not better, over the next several years due to the overall state of the economy, and the budget created by the council now will set the stage for the next several years. He explained that his feeling is that the budget should focus on getting existing services and infrastructure back on track.
    The council also spent considerable time discussing the golf course, trying to determine ways to reduce expenditures. Interim City Manager Fern Larson told the council that after reviewing the financial state of the golf course, she reversed many changes made by the previous city manager. According to Larson, the food service at the clubhouse was losing significant amounts of money and the hours set were not consistent with the busy times at the golf course. She told the council that to try to reduce losses, she asked the clubhouse manager to stop serving food, to reduce hours to times when most golfers are present and to only purchase resale items that have been shown to generate a profit.
    “I directed her to get rid of anything that’s not profitable,” Larson said. “We can’t continue to pay people to come out and eat at the golf course, which is basically what we were doing.”
    The council asked Larson to check into additional ways to reduce the cost of operating the golf course, such as closing the clubhouse during the slowest winter months.
    “I don’t expect the golf course to be self-sustaining, but the goal to strive for is less expenses,” Haussman remarked.
    Larson noted that the weather conditions this past winter had been especially devastating to golf course revenues, but regardless, there were many ways to cut costs.
    Following discussion of the golf course, the council was left without a quorum and unable to proceed with discussions on the remainder of the budget.