The proposed 2009 budget worries the community
TOLEDO, OHIO -- Mayor Finkbeiner proposed his 2009 budget Saturday night with cuts across the board. 40 city employees will be laid off and there will be no police or fire class. Even the Mayor himself promises to cut his own salary by 15%.
Nearly every city in America is hurt by the unfriendly economy. And here in Toledo, a manufacturing city, the pain is searing.
So that's why Mayor Carty Finkbeiner says he proposed a 2009 budget that delivers deep cuts and job losses.
He says, "We have to tighten our belts, live within our means and ask those employees that remain with us and fortunately to work hard and smart and be more productive. In this time, it's essential."
Among the budget proposals, cancelling planned police cadet and new firefighter classes, to save just over five million dollars.
Toledo City Councilman, Michael Collins says, "The priority of a municipal government is the safety of it's citizens and to approach this with such a cavalier attitude and then deliver a budget at the absolute final moments of the day is unacceptable."
Collins estimates over 100 officers will retire from the end of this year to 2011. And as a police officer, it's a prediction he fears. "They have done everything to disrupt the credibility of the city of toledo in terms of safety forces."
Mayor Finkbeiner says the economy will shape up in the future. But for now, he says, "Rather than weep or feel how could this happen to us, we have to realize that this is happening in many other cities, we have to understand that life is bright and positive day and the very next day, life can be overcast and less positive."