Mayor Frank Melton sent out a Feb. 10 memorandum demanding that all city departments—including fire and police—take radical measures to rein in spending.
"It is imperative that we immediately initiate the following measures to assure a balanced budget and the necessary reserves for our adopted FY 05-06 budget," Melton ordered. It outlined six demands, including the elimination of overtime to city employees, a hiring freeze, and stringent restrictions on cell phone, pager and city vehicle use.
He also called for every city department to slash its budget.
"All departments shall reduce their adopted budget by 5 percent except the Police Department (which) shall reduce (its budget) by 2.5 percent due to public safety," he ordered, adding that the city attorney and the Finance Department would get a list of "items that are to be reduced" by Feb. 14.
Job cuts are also ahead. "If it is necessary to lay off individuals, the Department of Personnel and the City Attorney shall approve the proposed layoffs based on adopted personnel and civil service rules," he wrote.
Fire Alarms Ringing
Alarms sounded off in the Jackson Fire Department as Interim Fire Chief Todd Chandler scrambled for ways to make cuts.
"The only thing I can say is we're doing everything we can to make sure the budget cuts will not reduce the level of protection for the citizens of Jackson," said Assistant Chief Tony Davis. "Anytime we have budget cuts, it'll hurt you, but we're used to it. We'll do whatever we can."
Following city orders, Chandler had to cut all overtime in the department, which already causes problems in a sector short-staffed by at least 30 positions, said Firefighters Local 87 Union President Branden Falcon.
"There's no way they can stop all overtime, but what they've done is create a policy where the fourth man on every unit will be sent all over the city until all the units have three people on it, and then they'll start overtime," Falcon said.
Saddling each engine crew with only three riders means a barebones staff standing out on your lawn as your home spits flame. To cover the holes, Chandler recommended that a pumper truck zip to the scene from a second station if that station is not already busy battling its own infernos.
"They say they're going to send a third engine company, but that third engine company is seven to 10 minutes away," Falcon warns. "If you lose the house in the first three to five minutes, what are you going to do with a pumper that's seven to 10 minutes away?"
The staff shortage also causes automatic violations in NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) requirements. Federal laws restrict firefighters from entering a burning house unless there are two firefighters ready to storm the building and two more firefighters waiting outside to drag out the first two if they don't come back out fast enough. Unless the firemen know there's someone in the house, and they can actually see them, they're not allowed to enter until another unit arrives.
"It's a federal law, but we never abide by it. We can't. A fireman isn't going to let you die in your house waiting on somebody else to show up on a scene, but by law, if we went in on that entry and got hurt we wouldn't have any medical coverage, and we'd have to fight for our workman's comp," Falcon said.
"I mean, c'mon, if you're unconscious, and your baby's unconscious, there's no car in the driveway or nothing to indicate that somebody's in there, would you really want me to stand out in the yard until another unit gets there?"
A Nightmare Cometh?
Police Chief Shirlene Anderson said she would manage to make ends meet, but that she wasn't sure where to make cuts.
"We're just trying to fill those slots that are essential, like communications, dispatch, crossing guards." Anderson said. "These cuts are a little tough, but right now we're looking at slots that we haven't filled for some time and closing them by attrition. Now I don't know what these other departments are going to do."
Falcon speculates that serious city budget shortages—and poor planning by the new administration—are forcing the cuts.
"The rumor is that you have people like the Stephanie Parker-Weavers (estimated $70,000 a year) and Jimmy Heidels ($150,000 a year) and so forth making more than the people in the last administration, and those salaries are eating up the budget on the mayor's staff. There was a push on salaries on the front end," Falcon said.
"Back in June there was a clean sweep of the books, and the city was found to be financially sound. What has happened between June of last year and February of this year, though, I cannot tell you."
Another source inside the fire department, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that city departments are blazing with concerns that the city is in gargantuan financial trouble. The source warned that City Council and auditors may likely find big holes when the budget books are cracked open in March for the budget revision.
"Something real bad is happening with this money. Truly we've lost businesses, but we haven't lost enough to hurt us this bad. I really would like to know, too, why all the sudden, Frank's hell-bent on cutting everybody back to the barebones," says the source about the mayor. He points to the city's recent problems with Blue Cross as another major concern.
Blue Cross Seeing Red?
The city pays Blue Cross and Blue Shield about $500,000 to provide the medical benefits plan for city of Jackson employees, but in late December Blue Cross and Blue Shield temporarily suspended their coverage because of what city Risk Management Director John Anderson called an oversight.
"It was a little bit computer glitch and a little bit mail problem, but it really wasn't that big a deal. It hit the media, and that caused some uneasiness," John Anderson said. "We had some mail getting crossed. Just like your monthly utility bill, we pay (Blue Cross and Blue Shield) through the mail, and it hadn't gotten there a day or two late, and so that caused some computer problem to show that something was due."
The unnamed source, however, disputed that description. "A month ago I thought something was wrong, but I didn't say anything about it, but there were some retirees that tried to use Blue Cross and learned that Blue Cross had canceled us. We pay Blue Cross every month to handle our paperwork, and the city hadn't paid them. They wound up having to come up with some money to pay them. They said it was an oversight, but that's bullsh*t because that money is direct debit. It was not an oversight. They were just hoping Blue Cross would work out of the goodness of their heart."
John Sewell, Blue Cross communications specialist, said the situation boiled down to a premium payment that did not make it to their office on time. "As far as we're concerned, the city delivered their check to our office almost immediately, and we reset things that night," he said.
Chief Financial Officer Peyton Prospere would not comment on the city's budget issues. "I just can't say anything, yet," Prospere said. "Not at this time."
Picking at Scabs
Council President Marshand Crisler said he could not comment on the health of the budget, which is due for a revision in March—after Melton requested a 30-day extension from the original February date.
"We can't talk about rumors concerning budget shortfalls and the possible losses of our budget reserve fund, but there's going to be conversation when that does happen," Crisler said, but added that he was incensed over the cuts to the city's fire department.
"I'm concerned with the issues of the cuts that continue to happen in this budget that we obviously did not have indicated to the council back during the budget cycle. This is all coming outside of everything we (the council) were given by the administration. My second concern is this is an administration that has given money back to business partners that we had, like the annual $200,000 we gave back to UMC (used for JFD equipment purchases), yet we're having to make cuts to the fire department, I'm certainly going to pick at that scab. I'm still confused, frustrated and upset when it comes to the fire department."
Ward 1 Councilman Ben Allen said he had also heard rumors of a failing city budget, but said he would also have to reserve his comment until the budget revision. "We're all concerned with our budget. We're concerned with the city losing its population—a thousand in the last 20 years. We're all concerned about it but I can't make a comment on it because I haven't seen the revised budget yet—but I'm sure looking forward to it."
Former Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. said the city's budget had $6 million in reserves when he left in July—and that citizens should pay close attention to the status of the budget reserves. "If it turns out that the budget is hurting, it's not because of anything we did. Our reserve was in good shape, and that's the true indicator of how well you're managing your money."
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