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Council passes city budget, defers salary increases
By Peter Jones
The Centennial City Council has passed the city’s $54.3 million budget for 2010 — but not without making a change that was passed despite the mixed feelings of some councilmembers.
On a vote of 6-2, the council opted on Nov. 2 to pass a revised budget that will defer a proposed 2 percent merit salary increase for qualifying city staff — totaling about $74,5000 — until at least May 2010.
At that time, the council will re-evaluate city revenues and vote on whether the raises will be offered. Any salary increases would be retroactive for employees who had been scheduled for a raise during the first half of the year.
District 4 Councilmember Todd Miller, who had emphasized performance measurements for staff during his unsuccessful run for mayor this year, motioned for the deferment in light of the economic downturn.
“We have an exemplary staff and I love our staff,” he said. “But in these conditions when Denver announced [Nov. 2] that they’re cutting another 172 positions, I have a hard time going forward with an increase at this moment.”
Miller noted that two city contractors — CH2M Hill OMI and the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office — had recently agreed to make cuts when asked to by the city, despite signed contracts that legally obliged the city.
“We cut one of our major services, which is paving, to the bone. That impacts our citizens and our city. I’m sorry if we all need to share in the pain,” he said.
But other councilmembers argued that unlike Denver and some other metro cities, Centennial, which has historically contracted for many city services, already has a modest bare-bones staff.
“We handled our budget extremely well,” District 4 Councilmember Ron Weidmann said. “We made some painful cuts. We’re working with a minimal staff. ... I think our staff deserves a very slight increase.”
The comment generated a heated rebuke from District 1’s Rick Dindinger, who said Weidmann was missing the point.
“Mr. Weidmann, this is not about whether our staff deserves an increase or not. Of course, they do,” he said. “There is a degree of pain our citizens are suffering because of the economy because of the decisions we’re making tonight. ... I think there’s a symbolism in saying we’re not increasing our salaries for staff.”
Opponents of the deferments also argued that the cuts could potentially make the city less competitive when attracting quality staff.
Although Weidmann, District 2’s Keith Gardner and District 3’s Patrick Anderson expressed opposition to the change, only Weidmann and Anderson voted against the overall budget on those grounds.
2010 budget
All funds $54.3 million
General fund $43.7 million
Land use $2.5 million
Capital improvement $1.5 million
Open space $2 million
Conservation Trust $1.75 million
Misc. $2.8 million
The complete budget is available at centennialcolorado.com.
On a vote of 6-2, the council opted on Nov. 2 to pass a revised budget that will defer a proposed 2 percent merit salary increase for qualifying city staff — totaling about $74,5000 — until at least May 2010.
At that time, the council will re-evaluate city revenues and vote on whether the raises will be offered. Any salary increases would be retroactive for employees who had been scheduled for a raise during the first half of the year.
District 4 Councilmember Todd Miller, who had emphasized performance measurements for staff during his unsuccessful run for mayor this year, motioned for the deferment in light of the economic downturn.
“We have an exemplary staff and I love our staff,” he said. “But in these conditions when Denver announced [Nov. 2] that they’re cutting another 172 positions, I have a hard time going forward with an increase at this moment.”
Miller noted that two city contractors — CH2M Hill OMI and the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office — had recently agreed to make cuts when asked to by the city, despite signed contracts that legally obliged the city.
“We cut one of our major services, which is paving, to the bone. That impacts our citizens and our city. I’m sorry if we all need to share in the pain,” he said.
But other councilmembers argued that unlike Denver and some other metro cities, Centennial, which has historically contracted for many city services, already has a modest bare-bones staff.
“We handled our budget extremely well,” District 4 Councilmember Ron Weidmann said. “We made some painful cuts. We’re working with a minimal staff. ... I think our staff deserves a very slight increase.”
The comment generated a heated rebuke from District 1’s Rick Dindinger, who said Weidmann was missing the point.
“Mr. Weidmann, this is not about whether our staff deserves an increase or not. Of course, they do,” he said. “There is a degree of pain our citizens are suffering because of the economy because of the decisions we’re making tonight. ... I think there’s a symbolism in saying we’re not increasing our salaries for staff.”
Opponents of the deferments also argued that the cuts could potentially make the city less competitive when attracting quality staff.
Although Weidmann, District 2’s Keith Gardner and District 3’s Patrick Anderson expressed opposition to the change, only Weidmann and Anderson voted against the overall budget on those grounds.
2010 budget
All funds $54.3 million
General fund $43.7 million
Land use $2.5 million
Capital improvement $1.5 million
Open space $2 million
Conservation Trust $1.75 million
Misc. $2.8 million
The complete budget is available at centennialcolorado.com.
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