$400K in Medicare reimbursements hadn’t been counted as revenue

By Damian Mann for Ashland.news

Big ticket capital improvement projects in Ashland such as a new park on East Main Street and renovations to public buildings are driving up the budgets of three city departments.

The Ashland Budget Committee dived into the proposed budgets of Public Works, Community Development and Parks & Recreation during a two-hour meeting last Thursday, May 18.

Summing up concerns about Ashland’s tight budget, resident Susan Hall said she is concerned that the city is gearing up to spend $6.7 million more than revenues.

She cited the cost to upgrade the water treatment plant at $67 million.

“Why do we need an oversized and overpriced project like this?” she said.

After it holds a series of public meetings, the Budget Committee will recommend approval of the biennial budget, and then it goes to the City Council for adoption and the new budget would start in July.

Mayor Tonya Graham, a budget committee member, announced at the meeting, “We need to assume the food and beverage tax measure is not passing.”

Measure 15-214, which would have reallocated money to Parks & Recreation, was losing by 49 votes as of May 19.

On a different budget note, Sabrina Cotta, city finance director, said she’d made an error in not counting Medicare reimbursements to the city, amounting to $397,000 in extra money.

As a result of discovering the discrepancy, she said the city could budget for a fire marshal, whose salary and benefits would be $203,840, and a fire training officer, whose salary and benefits would be $194,130.

The City Council has been pushing for greater preparedness to deal with the ongoing threat of wildfire that could threaten the community.

Of the three department budgets reviewed, Public Works relies on revenue from gas tax revenue, street fees and the Food & Beverage tax.

The Public Works budget would increase 70% from $14,620,980 this biennium to $24,846,646 in the 2023-2025 budget.

The biggest increase is for capital improvement projects, which will require $11,772,732 in the new budget, up from $6,604,192 in the current biennium.

Street improvements on Ashland Street and North Mountain Avenue are two of the larger projects.

The vehicle fleet portion of the budget will jump from $3,208,800 to $7,963,000, which includes a greater effort to create a “green fleet” by acquiring vehicles that offer a reduced carbon footprint.

However, ongoing supply chain issues could make it difficult for the city to receive some of these new vehicles.

“We are going to continue to have trouble acquiring fleet vehicles over the next couple of years,” said Scott Fleury, interim Public Works director.

He said some of the projects in the coming biennial budget will require more money to maintain and improve 29 city buildings for which Fleury’s department is responsible.

The 66-person staff at Public Works oversees various utilities, including the wastewater treatment plant, three cemeteries and the airport.

One project in the works is shifting the cemeteries over to using Talent Irrigation Ditch water rather than relying on potable water to maintain the vegetation.

Community Development will need $6,321,432 in the upcoming biennial budget, compared to $4,565,570 in the current budget, a 38% increase.

One of the biggest budget items is the amount for material and services, which will jump from$1,038,071 to $2,367,721 in the new budget.

Faced with a very tight overall budget, one suggestion from the budget committee was to look at contracting out some of the planning work to Jackson County Development Services in an effort to save money.

Brandon Goldman, director of Ashland Community Development, said that ideas would mean the city would lose the ability to be locally responsive to residents’ needs.

Many of the city ordinances are specific to Ashland, and local planners would have a more intimate knowledge of the local regulations, he said.

Councilor Gina DuQuenne, a budget committee member, said she wanted Community Development to take a look at reducing permits and fees, particularly for auxiliary dwelling units. “I’d like to see how we can eliminate these,” she said.

Goldman said his department would be looking at streamlining some of its processes over the next biennium.

Parks and Recreation’s budget would increase from $24,658,766 this biennium to $29,406,135 under the proposed budget, a 19% increase.

The biggest single increase is for capital projects jumping from $10,119,000 currently to $15,994,632 in the proposed budget.

Materials and services is expected to drop from $6,463,834 to $4,823,224.

Rebuilding the Daniel Meyer Pool and concerns about the future of the 9-hole Oak Knoll Golf Course dominated the budget committee discussions about this department.

Councilor Dylan Bloom, a budget committee member, said the golf course budget for this biennium is $941,799.

“Why should we fund this?” he asked.

Councilor DuQuenne said a city survey showed strong support for canceling the golf course.

“I feel the time has come today,” she said.

Michael Black, director of Parks and Recreation, said the golf course receives a majority of its funding from revenues,  and it requires an additional up to $200,000 a year from city coffers.

“A plan to look at the future of the golf course would be wise,” he said.

Budget committee members wanted to know how the city will pay to renovate or replace the pool.

Black said he has $2 million from food and tax money for the pool, but it will require up to $8.5 million to rebuild it.

“We need an additional source,” he said, suggesting donations and possibly selling the naming rights for the new pool. “We are looking at that option.”

Some councilors wondered why the $8.5 million was included in the budget even though the source of all the money wasn’t known.

Black said it was included so that the effort to rebuild the pool is transparent to the public.

Another responsibility of Parks & Recreation is senior services.

Councilor Bob Kaplan said at least a quarter of Ashland’s population is over the age of 65.

“Are we budgeting enough money for senior services?” he asked.

Isleen Glatt, senior services superintendent at Ashland Parks & Recreation Commission, said the city serves a lot of low-income seniors.

“We often see people who are living on $600 a month for all their living expenses,” she said. “The housing and the economic gap just grows and grows and grows.

The next Budget Committee meeting, the final one scheduled for this budget cycle, will be at 3 p.m. Thursday, May 25, in the Council Chambers, 1175 East Main St.

Reach writer Damian Mann at dmannnews@gmail.com.