Ypsilanti City Manager to unveil 5-year budget turnaround plan Oct. 30
City Manager Ralph Lange said he plans to unveil his five-year plan to turn around the city's finances and return the budgets to a sustainable model at a special council meeting Oct. 30.
Ralph Lange
The plan, which Lange has named the City Master 5-year Budget Turnaround Service and Sustainable Plan, is expected to put the city on right financial footing.
Lange previously said city staff was in the process of breaking down the city's various budgets to create a clearer picture of the city's finances.
Early projections show the city is facing a possible $4 million deficit for fiscal year 2016 and $4.6 million in 2017.
Lange said those projections will change as his staff continues to delve into the city's finances. Between January 2012 and January 2013, Lange is expecting the city will lose 15 full-time employees through attrition and retirements. Of that number, only three of the jobs will be replaced.
As part of his efforts to ensure the city maintains its basic services while being cost effective, Lange is developing a plan to combine police and fire departments into a single department.
The concept calls for the city to cross-train firefighters and police officers to fulfill both jobs.
Katrease Stafford covers Ypsilanti for AnnArbor.com.Reach her at katreasestafford@annarbor.com or 734-623-2548 and follow her on twitter.
Comments
ypsi 1
Mon, Oct 22, 2012 : 12:58 p.m.
The current system in not sustainable. Traditional roles with current staffing levels will not be able to be funded past 2013-14. 5.0 million per year for Police and 3+ million for fire are 3/4+ of the whole revenues for the city. After bond payments and other expenses are added the fund balance is gone by then and the city is in the red, which it cannot be. Lange is looking to save 2-300,000 per year. A good step but even more will be needed to sustain. Hiding one's head in the sand will not make the problems go away. If you have a better way to solve this speak up, but forget about mergers of services with the Township being an answer. There is not any cost saving for the city, and we already have mutual aid response in both police and fire. Only major changes in staffing gets you enough cost to help.
reddog801
Wed, Oct 17, 2012 : 9:12 p.m.
Ralph has lost his mind. Everyone needs to go to the Ypsilanti Police Facebook page and watch the video on public safety departments. Cross trained officers DO NOT WORK. Think about it, you have all your police officers tied up on a hostage situation, and the a B&E comes in and then along with that a Domestic with kids involved all at the same time, there is a structure fire in the city as well. Under Ralphs plan, police officers would have to devert from their "police" work and respond in their patrol cars to the scene of the fire. Get out, undress. This means, take their duty belts off, secure their weapons. Take their bullet proof vests off, then their boots. Grab their gear out and suit up. How much time do you think is wasted there? Too much. Police and fire work are two separate fields. Why is the city and Ralph not looking at the Pittsfield Twp concept? They are a public safety department where the Police chief is the chief of both police and fire but police are police and fire are fire. Ralph, I'm sorry but your very wrong on this decision and I would highly encourage you to listen to your police officers and your firefighters. Not just a police chief who I have no doubts could run both departments but they MUST REMAIN SEPARATE.
xmo
Wed, Oct 17, 2012 : 1:36 p.m.
Kommards, A new Five Year Plan: "he plans to unveil his five-year plan to turn around the city's finances and return the budgets to a sustainable model "