Danville Mayor Scott Eisenhauer has proposed a new ‘Plan C’ budget proposal.
‘’Plan C is cuts across the board, and no new revenue – and no new net expenses either, and I think that’s very important,’’ said the mayor. ‘’So what we did was we took what was due from the General Fund last year, we reduced what was due from the General Fund this year by 3.07 percent across the board, and then we looked at contracts and other expenses that would normally go up every year and said to the department heads you get zero of that money,’’ added the Mayor.
The plan includes eliminating the full-time HR manager, cutting almost 20 seasonal Public Works employees, 4 in Engineering and Urban Services, and 2 positions in the police department. A meeting between the Mayor and representatives from the fire department this morning (Wednesday) will focus on the need to cut that department by 3.07 percent from last year’s amount due from the General Fund.
[In the photo Danville Mayor Scott Eisenhauer outlines his new budget proposal to members of the Danville City Council’s Public Services Committee Tuesday evening. In the other photo some off-duty Danville Firefighters attend the meeting showing their concern after the mayor earlier proposed cutting 16 firefighters.]
Assistant Fire Chief Tom Pruitt reacted to the new proposal.
‘’We’ve been told for the last eight years that Director Thomason takes care of the budget – we run the fire department. Now we’re in the eleventh hour and he’s coming to us and saying ‘we’re going to let you two tell us where the cuts are coming from. You know that’s unfair, but we’re willing to meet with him in the morning. We’re looking forward to meeting with him and talking to him, and giving him our side of the story. You know, you can’t dump it in our laps five days before the council meeting and saying we want you two to come up with $700,000 in cuts – that’s just ridiculous,’’ added Pruitt.
Mayor Eisenhauer (shown here) added it is anticipated one vacancy on the police department would not be filled, and one expected vacancy on the force would not be filled either. In addition, the Friendly Town Traffic Safety Education Center would remain closed this summer so those officers can be used on the streets.
Alderman Mike Puhr called Mayor Eisenhauer’s latest proposal ‘’a fairer solution’’. A public hearing on the proposal will be held at next Tuesday’s full city council meeting. Then final action on the budget is set for April 18th.
[**Note….you can click on the photos to enlarge them.]
