Richfield feels pain as budget cuts begin

The arithmetic of Richfield's budget dilemma is simple.

The city's $19 million budget took a $619,000 hit in December with local government aid cuts by the state. Now, Richfield faces proposed state cuts of $2.7 million more over the next two years.

Instead of waiting for final numbers, city officials have started cutting. Dozens of Minnesota cities are making similar pre-emptive moves. Unwilling to wait for Gov. Tim Pawlenty and legislators to work out their budget differences, they are making tough choices now.

In tiny, proud Richfield, residents who live on streets that are brightly lighted and where trees with Dutch elm disease are speedily removed may soon see a streetlight fee added to their utility bills. Their city forester is gone, and the battle to save the remaining elms may be over.

Cities making cuts range from urban centers -- St. Paul is discussing possible layoffs -- to small suburbs such as Columbia Heights, where jobs have been cut and employees are taking two-week unpaid furloughs.

According to the League of Minnesota Cities, Burnsville, Eagan, Lakeville, Rochester, Duluth and Brainerd are among the cities that already are cutting budgets and sometimes jobs. While some cities are slicing costs that are invisible to the public -- delaying purchase of a dump truck, postponing a computer upgrade -- others will be noticeable.

Cambridge won't fix as many cracks in roads or paint as many crosswalks. Vadnais Heights and Caledonia won't seal coat streets. Austin and Le Sueur will cut back on flower gardens and baskets. In Eagan, athletic fields won't have concession stands.

Cities "are fairly pessimistic, so they're making the kind of changes Richfield is making," said Rachel Walker, the league's policy analysis manager. While local government aid was cut in 2003, the economy was strong then, she said. "Now, people are not paying their utility bills or their property taxes and building permit revenues are going down."

Richfield, population 34,000, has thriving commercial areas and a high-powered corporate citizen in Best Buy within its seven square miles. But it is not a wealthy community. The city has a large immigrant population and many first-time homeowners.

Over the past two years, about 300 of the city's 10,000 homes have gone into foreclosure. The city recently learned it will receive $1 million in federal money to get some of those homes resold or back on the market.

City Manager Steve Devich said that in December, when Pawlenty reduced local government aid in a process known as unallotment, and dire state deficit forecasts were red flags that demanded city action. "My reaction was, the quicker we can take some actions to deal with it, the better off we would all be," he said.

Unions representing police, firefighters, maintenance staff and others who make up roughly half of Richfield's 200 employees accepted a pay freeze for the first quarter of the year, saving about $100,000. The city laid off five full-time and two part-time workers, all in administrative support. Four more employees are taking early retirement. Four or five jobs are being held open, including a police officer position, Devich said.

"These were people who had a valuable function here," he said. "We're not going to be able to get things done as fast. People need to appreciate that we're doing less with less."

One of the lost jobs was an "investigative clerical" position in the police department. The clerk served as a liaison to the city and county attorneys' offices, handling computer records that recorded case status, cell phone billings, pawnshop reporting systems and daily police bulletins.

"The people here are just having to work harder," said Police Chief Barry Fritz. "We are getting to a point where we're stretched thin and we have officers doing things that civilians and clerks used to do."

Keeping cars longer

Police squad cars, which get hard use and used to be kept two years before they were sold and replaced, now are kept for three. Unmarked cars, which used to be kept three or four years, are retained for eight. Fritz said keeping the cars any longer than that doesn't make financial sense and could lead to safety issues.

With the forester gone, those duties will fall to someone who will do them as part of a bigger job. Despite a city policy of removing sick trees within 20 days, Dutch elm disease has reduced the number of elms in the city from 6,000 30 years ago to 700 now. Eastling said he is thinking of shifting removal of diseased trees to winter, when the job is cheaper.

"We fought a good fight, but maybe it's time to throw in the towel," he said.

A boulevard tree service fee for residents has been discussed, as has a streetlight utility fee. Richfield's well-lighted streets cost $316,000 a year.

"We're squeezing everything we possibly can, and at the same time we don't want to let the quality of life suffer," Devich said. "People need to feel safe, they need to know that the parks are open, that potholes are filled."

Police Chief Fritz, a Richfield employee for 34 years, said the city has done a good job of hiding the effect of cuts from residents. But that may be coming to an end.