Gainesville City Council members need to get creative when it comes to working with the upcoming budget.
It’s all about priorities, City Manager Kip Padgett said Monday as he passed out envelopes that contained nine slips of paper.
The papers named several of the city’s departments — tourism and communications, community development, Community Service Center, finance and human resources, Gainesville Fire Department, Georgia Mountains Center, golf course, public works and Gainesville Police Department.
“Last year we talked about prioritizing, and each of you have different priorities,” Padgett said. “We’re here as a government for a reason, and we need to determine what that reason is.”
By the end of the daylong retreat at the Fair Street Neighborhood Center, council members had to divide the pieces of paper into three cups — hands off, surgical knife and butcher’s knife.
“I don’t want to know who says what, but the results will tell me what y’all are wanting to see as I work on the budget for the next year,” Padgett said. “Hopefully we won’t get to the point of using a butcher’s knife, but there are forces outside of us that we can’t control.”
City staff are cautiously optimistic, with this year’s expenses coming in under the planned budget level. Finance Director Melody Marlowe is projecting a $1.4 million positive change, with almost $5 million in reserves on June 30.
For the upcoming year, council members asked staff to investigate benefits for new hires, consider an increase in the retirement age for new hires and report how the fund balance could help capital projects. They also requested a complete report on departmental vehicles and fees charged by the city’s services.
At the same time, council members want to give a small morale boost to city employees who have handled furloughs and cuts in past years.
“We need to look at salaries pretty soon. I know we’re losing some police officers to other places,” said Mayor Ruth Bruner. “We should also consider bilingual supplements to recognize the help we’re getting there. That’s a big deal.”
Padgett will soon sort the individual slips of paper that council members turned in Monday.
“I don’t know if I can choose,” council member Myrtle Figueras said as she shuffled through the nine pieces of paper.
“These are all important for quality of life in our community.”
Council members also looked at updates on last year’s goals, which included improvements to downtown by hosting more activities on the square and hiring a Main Street manager, increased emphasis on youth programs and evaluation of revenue sources.
Last January, council members also emphasized development around Lake Lanier, residential growth in the downtown area and increased play at the golf course. These initiatives will slowly move forward as funds recover.
“For some of these items, we need to set priorities, get some specific numbers and go to our legislators,” said council member Bob Hamrick. “We need to say, ‘Hey, we’re from Gainesville, and we need some help.’”
Council members also praised the new trash pickup system implemented Jan. 1 and an end to furloughs, and Padgett reminded them that careful cuts this year will prevent furloughs from returning.
“We’re still not out of the woods yet. When we consolidated some of the departments, it really helped us to cut costs and become more streamlined, but now we’re down to the bone, and we have to prioritize,” Padgett said. “As a favorite saying goes, ‘We cannot change the direction of the wind, but we can adjust our sail.’”