EVANSVILLE — During a public meeting the likes of which nobody had ever seen, the Evansville City Council voted 9-0 to cut $2.8 million from this year's city budget due to revenues lost from the coronavirus pandemic.
Only three councilors were physically present for the vote: President Alex Burton, Finance Chair Ron Beane and Justin Elpers. The other six participated by phone.
Gov. Eric Holcomb's order limiting in-person gatherings to 10 people made the unprecedented arrangement necessary.
In addition to the three councilors, others in the room at Old National Events Plaza were City Council Attorney Josh Claybourn, City Attorney Marco Delucio, City Clerk Laura Windhorst, Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, City Controller Russ Lloyd Jr., an ONEP technical support staff member and a Courier & Press reporter.
When Department of Metropolitan Development Director Kelley Coures spoke, Lloyd left the room, keeping the number at 10.
Winnecke told the City Council the cuts were necessary because of the prolonged closure of Tropicana Evansville. City revenues from the casino total just over $1 million per month. City officials currently assume two months of lost revenues.
Winnecke described the cuts as "precautionary budget repeals." Some of the larger cuts include:
• $685,000 in vehicle purchases for METS. Ridership of the bus service is down due to the pandemic, city officials said.
• $300,000 for the Evansville Land Bank to spend on vacant, dilapidated house demolitions.
• A host of street and alley repair projects and sidewalk projects.
• Stretching debt payments on a newly purchased Evansville Fire Department ladder truck from three years to four years, creating $400,000 in savings.
• The city found $313,000 to easily cut from an Evansville Fire Department account due to what Lloyd said had been a "data entry error." Some other cuts were from funds for police and fire department equipment that is already purchased, but which came in under projected costs.
• The city is postponing the painting of Mesker Park Zoo's Amazonia section, as well as the purchase of a wood chipper for the zoo.
"It’s our hope that circumstances change, and we can come back to you at a later time and ask that we can restore some of these," Winnecke said. "The flip side is also true. We might need to ask for more repeals."
Some larger city budget items that are not impacted by the council's action Monday include $500,000 for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and a $460,000 allocation for the zoo's planned Penguins of Patagonia exhibit.
Winnecke said he wanted to keep the Affordable Housing Trust Fund intact because of the impact the coronavirus pandemic will have on Evansville's most vulnerable residents.
The penguin exhibit, with a total budget of $6.5 million to $7 million, is to be built with both public and private funds. Winnecke said the project has received substantial donor commitments and an Indiana tourism grant, and construction bids on the project are favorable. So the city's funding for 2020 remains, for now.
Evansville's three main road construction projects planned for 2020 -- Covert Avenue, Walnut Street and Washington Avenue at Haynie's Corner -- also are set to go forward. The cuts approved Monday are mostly in curb improvements, sidewalks and paving across the city.
City government anticipates paving about 15 miles of streets this year, slightly less than the last 2-3 years.
Elpers asked Winnecke if the cost to operate city swimming pools could be cut for this year, given the ban on public gatherings. Pools open around Memorial Day.
"Everything is on the table for future discussion," Winnecke answered.
Two rezonings on the City Council agenda Monday were tabled since the current setup prohibits any in-person comments about them.
Until the council returns to the Civic Center Room 301, meetings are being streamed on the Old National Events Plaza Facebook page. The next meeting is scheduled April 13.