The City of Carbondale is looking at how it will close a more than $700,000 gap in its general budget for the coming year.
The city council discussed a number of options at its meeting Tuesday night. Those options range from making drastic cuts in city services to raising fees and taxes. Councilman Lance Jack says it's a discussion the council needs residents to weigh in on.
"In a nutshell, guys, do we keep everything that we've got right now, or do we hack a bunch off services and raise taxes? Or do we just go ahead and clean house and give up half of our city government? It's really what type of town do we all want to live in?"
Councilman Lee Fronabarger says he feels the city needs to be frugal as well as look at options for raising more money to support city services.
"Maybe even, you know, holding us to the 2014 level expenditures. But also finding some additional revenues. I think you can't have just one or the other, it's got to be a combination of both. Maybe you lessen the blow that way."
Some tax options include raising the hotel/motel tax, the home rule tax, or the city's sales tax. Other austerity measures include cutting city staff, not filling open positions, and eliminating city funding for community organizations.
Mayor Don Monty says the city manager will work on developing what he refers to as a frugal budget as well as come up with suggestions for potential revenue increases.
City Manager Kevin Baity says there are several options including cutting staff and services - such as the police department.
"The negative impact of that is less officers on staff to respond to the ever-increasing number of calls for service. Therefore, it would delay response times, it would delay the coverage that the citizens have come to realize and expect within the city."
Baity says another option would be to do away with city funding for community groups and organizations. The city is considering more than 200-thousand dollars in funding requests from city organizations.
Other options include raising city taxes and fees. Councilwoman Jessica Bradshaw says she would support an increase in the city's sales tax.
"We need to invest in our community. We need to get more people here. I think that if we had funding for more community organizations, maybe they could employ more people, keep more people coming here, provide more services, make Carbondale more appealing."
Mayor Don Monty says City Manager Baity will work on crafting a budget based on this year's spending as well as develop some potential tax and fee increases.
If the city council decides to raise Carbondale's sales tax, it would need to approve the change prior to the end of March, so that it can be in place for the start of the fiscal year.
