In our February 22, 2010, post (“Scapegoat City Mgr. Being Fitted For ‘The Jacket’”) we suggested that City Mgr. Jim Hock was being set up to take the fall for what was shaping up as the third straight deficit budget since former mayor Howard Frimark bamboozled 7,688 voters into cutting in half the decades-old 14-member City Council.

But if what went on at this past Saturday’s budget workshop is any indication, Hock’s “jacket” is undergoing its final tailoring even as the City’s 2010-11 budget appears to be nowhere near the “balanced” stage that Mayor Dave Schmidt has demanded while threatening to veto anything less.

As you may recall, Hock proposed a budget that showed a $227,000 deficit, with the distinct possibility that the deficit could increase by another $900,000+ if those folks running Illinois state government decide to adopt Gov. Quinn’s recommendation that the portion of the state income tax going to municipalities be cut from 10% to 7%.  And the resulting $1.1 million deficit will be a worst-case scenario only if: (a) the Council approves all of Hock’s proposed cuts, which is unlikely; and (b) all of his revenue projections are realistic, which may also be unlikely.

The Council has now conducted three budget workshops since Hock released his proposed budget, and we are wondering just what has been accomplished in getting the City to a balanced budget – other than Alds. Joe Sweeney (1st Ward) and Don Bach (3rd Ward) stating that they don’t support any of the proposed cuts to the fire and police departments (projected net savings: $700,000), and Ald. Robert Ryan (5th Ward) saying he wants the private community group handouts put back in the budget (projected additional expense: $200,000+). 

So if those three get their way, the proposed budget deficit would increase by yet another $900,000+, up to either $1.2 million or $2.1 million, depending on what Springfield does.  Which makes Ald. Frank Wsol’s (7th Ward) Saturday morning scolding of Hock for not yet having proposed a “balanced budget” seem even more ridiculous: What more can Hock do when the Council hasn’t told him what cuts they will accept, what ones they won’t, and in what amounts? 

One significant development from Saturday’s workshop, however, was Bach’s distribution of his proposed revision [pdf] of the City’s current organizational structure [pdf].  Bach claims his revision will put $1 million back into the budget. 

Whether that’s legit or just empty bluster is hard to say, since Bach’s chart doesn’t identify any specific dollar amounts or savings, even as it appears to cut one Full Time Equivalent employee (“FTE”) from the police department and one employee from the fire department.  But if this is a sincere and legitimate effort to come up with a more efficient and cost-effective structure for City government rather than just some “Look over there!” diversion from the budget problems at hand, why did Bach wait until six weeks before the budget adoption deadline to propose it?  

If these aldermen were truly serious about balancing this budget, they already would have told Hock what other cuts he should make in expenses, or what other revenues he should add, to balance that $227,000 deficit and begin addressing the expected $900,000 shortfall in state funding.

Instead, they just keep kicking the City Mgr. around.