Kent Councilwoman says city should ‘eliminate the CAO’

Kent City Councilwoman Elizabeth Albertson let loose with a bombshell as to where the city should cut its budget.

“We should eliminate the CAO (Chief Administrative Officer) and the CAO’s assistant and have the mayor actually run the city,” Albertson said just prior to the end of a more than three-hour council budget workshop Tuesday night at City Hall.

Albertson made the statement directly to John Hodgson, the city’s CAO, as he sat at a table to discuss potential cuts with the council. Hodgson wrote down all of the ideas, including the elimination of his job.

No other council member backed Albertson’s idea. Right after her comment, Councilman Bill Boyce chimed in via a conference call, “We should just shut down the city,” before he added “I’m joking.”

Albertson noted before her proposed axing of Hodgson that she stated in August she wanted more budget information from Mayor Suzette Cooke and her staff, which includes Hodgson, and didn’t want to be in the position of trying to make cuts in November just a month before the deadline for the council to adopt the 2013-14 budget.

City staff and the council are looking at where to make about $2.6 million in cuts. The council approved a $43,730 contract Sept. 4 with a consultant to find ways to save money in the budget.

The council and a room full of city department heads and employees heard a more than two-hour draft report Tuesday from BERK consulting in Seattle. But that efficiency study looked more at long-term answers as opposed to what the city can do before the council votes Dec. 11 on a final budget for 2013-14.

“There is no immediate silver bullet on the list,” said Michael Hodgins, of BERK, about cuts that could help now. The firm plans to submit to the council a more specific report by the end of November based on feedback from the council.

Boyce asked the consultants if they found the city to be too management heavy after numerous cuts at the “troop level.”

“We looked at that but didn’t see management excess,” said Paul Roberts, of BERK. “We saw an organization that had already gone through a lot of thinning.”

Cooke announced in early October the elimination of 20 jobs by Nov. 1, including eight current employees and 12 vacant positions as the city struggles to balance its budget. That’s also when Cooke presented her business and occupation (B&O) tax proposal. The council on Oct. 16 adopted a B&O tax to start in 2013 help pay for street repairs.

Cooke asked the council on Tuesday to reconsider increasing the B&O tax to pay for more than streets. Her initial proposal called for $500,000 to park facilities, $1 million to the capital improvement program and $1.2 million to the general fund in addition to $4.2 million for streets.

“You need to think about not only the current budget but building a foundation,” Cooke said. “You need to look at the whole picture. Cuts could short-change the foundation.”

That proposal caused further dissension among the council. Councilman Les Thomas said a higher B&O tax is off the table and scratched a line threw it on the administration’s list of potential revenue sources.

Councilwoman Jamie Perry wanted more discussion about the B&O tax.

“We sat up here and heard the department heads say that they don’t want to cut,” Perry said. “Well, find me a money tree. I’m over-the-top frustrated with this conversation. We can’t get all of the services if we have no revenue.”

The consultant’s report emphasized that the city needs to restructure its revenue foundation because it’s too dependent on sales taxes, an area where the city has gone through deep revenue declines.

“How are we going to deal with the structural problem without getting revenue in here?” Perry said.

The council scheduled budget workshops for Nov. 14 and 17 in an effort to agree on places to cut the budget or raise more revenue.

New revenue sources under consideration by the council include a 6 percent cable television utility tax and an increase in permit fees for developers.

Council President Dennis Higgins suggested looking at reducing the city’s subsidy to pay for recreation programs as well as contracting out operations of the city-owned and run Riverbend Golf Complex.

The city’s Neighborhood Program (funded at $112,000 per year) that helps residents form councils in order to work more closely with the city also will be looked at as a potential cut.

Councilwoman Deborah Ranniger said the city needs to carefully look at where it cuts programs.

“We can’t just look at the cost but the return the community is getting as far as people served and community connections,” Ranniger said.

Cooke also informed the council that the $200,000 subsidy listed in the budget to help cover the revenue losses at the city-owned ShoWare Center will need to be much larger.

“It’s closer to $500,000 or $600,000,” Cooke said.