Common Council passes fee in first reading

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City Council meeting is packed with concerned citizens about the proposed City Services Fee

Meeting audio is available here.

Even standing room was limited as concerned citizens crowded into the Common Council Chambers to voice their opinions about the recently proposed ordinance to implement a$15 City Service Fee.

Although most residents present were clearly against the fee, Council voted 5-2 to pass the ordinance in first reading after a unanimous vote to amend the ordinance to a $10 fee and implement a May 1, 2011 sunset clause to review the necessity of the fee at that time.

Councilmen Steve McIntyre and Erv Ebersole voted against the ordinance, while councilmen Jason Fields, Keith Eller, Joe Blomeke, Brooks Fetters and Jack Slusser voted in favor of the fee.

McIntyre explained he believes there are other ways to generate revenue that don’t dip into taxpayer’s pockets.

“I’m against any fee whatsoever, but at least if it passes (in second reading) it will be lower,” he said, explaining why he voted in favor of the ordinance amendment.

Fields, who voted against the $10 garbage fee proposed last November, said he believes the City Service Fee is necessary. But he informed the public that if the city is able to generate more revenue than expected, Council can review the ordinance at any time even prior to the May 1, 2011 sunset clause.

“I don’t like the thought of more money coming out of people’s pockets. I really don’t. The thing I look at is if we want to continue to receive services we’ve been receiving … I don’t know how we can continue to give these services without some sort of revenue,” Fields said, noting a previous presentation by Umbaugh, a financial consulting firm, optimistically placing the city’s general fund $500,000 in the red at the end of the year. “I don’t see what else we can do other than slash our services to the people.”

Fetters noted that statutorily the city cannot end the year with a negative cash balance in the general fund.

“The reality of our financial situation is not going to change in 2012 or 2013,” Fetters said. “I’m wrestling with where that fee needs to be … so we’re not in the red at the end of the year.”

But despite the city’s budgetary woes, many citizens informed council they are financially strapped as well.

Huntington resident Debra Smith said both she and her husband have been on unemployment for 16 months.

“We cannot afford to do this as fixed income people. My mother is 78. She cannot afford to pay,” she said. “If you don’t do something I’m going to lose my home. I love this place. I grew up here. Think about this sincerely before you go making us pay any more. Take a pay cut for God’s sake.”

Larry Buzzard, a Huntington resident and former County Commissioner, said he believes this fee is merely a way to circumvent the property tax caps implemented by House Bill 1001.

“Hopefully you will see this for what it is: another form of a government bailout,” he said. “I’m paying enough in taxes and fees and I can do without the service fee … I live in a downtown area and many of the homes … are run down and in disrepair, yet the size of government has continued to grow. It’s just the nature of the beast.”

Resident Hank Rubin agreed that implementing the City Service Fee is merely skirting state laws.

“I helped elect state legislators who (implemented) a property tax cap … It worries me when I see our local government make an end around run in conflict with our state property tax cap law,” he said, explaining a referendum on the November ballot will allow Hoosiers to choose whether or not to put tax caps into the Indiana Constitution. “What good is that going to do if the local government institutes a new tax in the form of a city service fee? It’s wrong. I question whether this is responsible local government … it’s in conflict to our state law.”

James Shull was one of two residents who spoke in favor of the fee.

“If we want the service, we’re going to have to pay for it,” he said.

Stan Dyke, a resident and employee of Marion Services which collects garbage and recycling, said he isn’t opposed to a reasonable fee.

“I personally know it doesn’t cost $15 (to collect trash). It doesn’t cost $10,” Dyke said. “I pay part of my in-laws’ water bill now. They can’t do it. Am I opposed to a $5 fee? No. But not a $15 fee.”

Common Council will vote on the second reading of the ordinance at the May 25 meeting, which will take place at 6:45 a.m. in the Mayor’s Office on the third floor of the City Building.