By Dan Carden, Times of Northwest Indiana
dan.carden@nwi.com
INDIANAPOLIS | The 265-page report of the Gary fiscal monitor makes more than 100 recommendations of city budget cuts and operational changes needed to fix a $22 million-a-year structural deficit caused by property tax caps.
The recommendations include privatizing some city services, requiring mandatory furlough days and higher health insurance premiums for city employees, eliminating five fire stations and 54 firefighters, closing the city court and health departments, and ending "take home" vehicle privileges.
Dean Kaplan, the fiscal monitor, admits his recommendations will be "challenging" to implement and require a "significant change in the nature and level of services provided by the city."
But the city is "fighting for its financial life" and must stop "trying to meet every need in a limited way" and "focus on providing fewer high-quality services," Kaplan said.
If fully implemented, property tax caps would essentially halve Gary's revenue from $62.9 million to $28.1 million in 2010 and $28.9 million in 2011, according to the report.
The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance required Gary to hire a fiscal monitor as a condition of temporary relief from state-mandated property tax caps.
Gary was allowed to charge property tax rates approximately one-third higher than the rest of the state this year to avoid a fiscal meltdown.
A hearing on whether to allow Gary to continue to charge the higher rates is scheduled for Jan. 6 in Indianapolis.