City council 'needs' to make decision this month on PBPD, pool, other cuts

Poplar Bluff City Manager Mark Massingham laid out a stark series of numbers for council members during his last meeting at the helm of the municipal budget.

The city needs to trim $200,000 from its expenses in the next couple weeks to avoid dipping into cash reserves further.

Four options could help meet the need for this year: closing the pool and fitness center at the Black River Coliseum; ending city funding for the Margaret Harwell Art Museum; cutting police officer shifts from 12 to eight hours; and cutting all staff salaries by 1% for the remainder of the year.

Shuttering the pool and fitness center would save the city about $51,000 in money scheduled to be transferred from the general revenue fund, Massingham said.

Eliminating city funding for the art museum would net about $39,000 in savings.

Shift changes at the police department would decrease overtime expenses and reduce salary expenses by $43,000 for the last six months of the year.

An across the board 1% pay cut for all employees would create an additional $32,500 in savings.

“These decisions are hard to make,” Massingham said after presenting the numbers. “None of them are pleasant. I hate to see us unfund the art museum and I hate to see us close the pool and fitness center.

“And considering the employees have not had cost of living increases on an annual basis, I would hate to see pay cuts for the employees.”

Massingham, who is set to retire Friday, first warned about the potential need for cuts when laying out the 2020 city budget in December. Current city planner Matt Winters has been named the new city manager and is slated to take over next week.

Massingham initially predicted a need for $280,000 in cuts, if a use tax measure on internet purchases failed during the municipal election, which it did. The municipal election was originally scheduled for April, but postponed due to COVID-19 challenges until June.

The city has been able to recoup some money from COVID CARES Act funding for staff at the airport, reducing the amount to $200,000, Massingham said.

“Since the use tax did not pass, we must do something as soon as possible,” he said. “We can no longer dip into reserves.”

Several members of Poplar Bluff High School swim teams attended the meeting, asking the city to reconsider closing the pool. It provides the only practice area for girls swimming, which starts in November, the students said. It also provides a place for other residents to get exercise and receive physical therapy, they said.

Massingham also spoke of concerns that police officers would leave the force if they saw a pay cut through the reduction of overtime hours. It would be difficult to fill those spots, he said.

As early as 2016, Massingham began to caution that city spending of its cash reserves was creating “critical” balances.

Officials have cut positions through attrition and made other changes, such as reducing insurance benefits for new employees, but have still struggled to reach a balanced budget.

More than 75% of general fund expenses pay for the salary and benefits of employees.

Previous cuts included $200,000 in reductions in 2015 through changes to employee dental and optical benefits, and decisions to eliminate full-time positions at the police department, Black River Coliseum and street department. At that time, Massingham said 3% of all city expenses in the 2016 budget would come from cash reserves.

In 2016, Massingham sought more than $400,000 in budget cuts through council approval, asking for further reductions in personnel in four departments. If all cuts had been approved, the city would have still seen 1.4% of all expenses drawn from cash reserves in 2017. Council members did not approve all of the personnel cuts at that time, voicing concerns about service reductions in critical departments and asking for departments to find other reductions. A budget that planned for 2% of all expenses in 2017 to come from cash reserves was approved.

Deficit spending planned for the 2018 budget year was reduced to less than $50,000, however cash reserves had continued to drop after years of being in the red.

By December 2017, city officials said the general fund reported a balance of just over $4 million. However, that balance included a $4.3 million IOU for money owed by the health insurance fund, Black River Coliseum, and airport from many years of support by the general fund. A $1 million check for property tax collections was expected by January 2018 to help bolster the account.

The city projected it would be in the red by less than $40,000 for the 2019 budget year, which saw the elimination of a finance director position and creation of a human resources position.

Discussion of the 2020 budget on Monday included only four council members.

Three members of the council chose to step out of the budget discussion because it involved city employee salary matters, and they have family members employed by the city.

Ward 1 council representative Lisa Parson, Ward 2 council representative Ed DeGaris and at-large council member Chris Taylor abstained from employee salary matters.