After the income tax increase passed in Columbus, Ohio this summer, a Reform and Accountability Committee was established to monitor spending of the additional money coming into the city. Ernie Shannon spoke with the chair of the committee, Tom Hoaglin, and several union leaders to see how the first months of increased income tax revenue are affecting the City of Columbus.

Big promises accompanied Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman’s pleas for a tax increase this summer to pull the city out of a budgetary sinkhole. He made clear that if Columbus voters approved the half-percent increase in taxes, that now includes anyone who works within Columbus city limits regardless of where they live, city leaders would cut into heretofore-sacrosanct employee salaries or benefits to find savings. However union leaders, fearing they may be the fodder to fill the sinkhole, don’t look so kindly on such a plan.

In March an economic advisory committee suggested to the mayor and Columbus City Council an income tax increase of .05 percent along with additional charges for refuse collection. Jumping on that idea, Council President Michael Mentel advised an August election for voters to approve the request even though opponents said the late-summer date was too soon. The tax passed by 3,050 votes and the city followed up with an announcement in September that the same Economic Advisory Committee had created a 15-point plan to reduce city expenditures during the next ten years. Mayor Coleman and President Mentel also mentioned the appointment of a Reform Accountability Committee to monitor progress on those 15 ideas. Former Huntington Chairman Tom Hoaglin is chair of the new committee.

“I give the mayor a lot of credit for being willing to hold the city accountable for their spending in the wake of the recent tax increase,” said Hoaglin. “There’s a very careful balance between revenue and expenditures and one of the areas that probably needs more balance is with employee wages and benefits. The city has been very generous in covering benefits for employees and we have a mayor who understands we need to be fair with wages while at the same time being fair with the taxpayer.”

Finding better “balance” won’t be easy to come by though. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1632 President Doug Moore says simply, “We have a collective bargaining agreement with the city through March 2011. We expect the city will want to begin negotiating a new contract sometime before that, but nobody has approached us about any of this yet. We recognize the challenges the city has, but we have worked hard for many years to achieve the level of benefits and wages city employees deserve.”

The Columbus Firefighters Union Local 67 has already cooperated with city leaders by accepting a reduction in benefit coverage by the city to 5 ½ percent by May 2012. The city currently pays a full ten percent of benefits for employees. But Firefighters Union President Jack Reall was careful to point out that his union also acquired pay increases to offset the benefit reductions.

“We don’t make plans to support the city,” Reall said. “The idea is to negotiate what is fair for all parties and that’s what we’ve done. By May 31, 2012 the city’s pension pickup will be down to 5 ½ percent for us. Let’s see what everyone else is willing to sacrifice by then.”

Reall also expressed some skepticism about the Reform Committee, questioning whether a group of people approved by and in support of city leaders can make the difficult, but fair recommendations needed.

“In my opinion, it’s hard to have a third-party reviewer under any circumstance and get the results you really need,” Reall said.

The first five recommendations in the 15-point, ten-year plan created by the Economic Advisory Committee targets employee benefits work issues. The first recommendation is called Phasing-Out Pension Pick-Up and says, “The practice of paying the employee share of retirement costs cannot continue. This benefit cost the city’s General Fund approximately $30 million in 2008 and contributes to the structural imbalance. The city should phase out the current benefit over time.”

Hoaglin said, “Non-union city employees have already started down this path by agreeing to give up city contributions to their benefits by one percent a year each January for ten years thus ending city payments altogether by 2020.”

The second recommendation titled Increasing Employee Share of Health Insurance includes this language: “Offset the cost of employee health care insurance by continuing to increase the employee contribution to the cost of coverage. The city should continue its successful strategies for holding down the cost of care, and at the same time reduce operating costs by requiring the employee to share more of the cost burden.” But will the unions accept both an increase in their costs for health care coverage while not receiving a pay increase to offset the loss of income?

The third suggestion which is called a Health Benefits Dependent Audit calls for greater scrutiny on who receives employee benefits. This section says, “To reduce premium costs associated with the city’s health insurance plan the city conducted a review of the plan’s current enrollment to ensure eligibility of enrollees and to ensure that health care dollars are spent only on employees and dependents entitled to coverage.”

The last two recommendations by the committee focus on managing overtime and the redeployment of uniformed police and firefighters. While these two points are not as controversial as the reductions in benefits, they would require a change in the city’s work environment in many instances. The first would significantly reduce overtime work costs, but leaving open to question what services might be lost. The second would return many desk-bound uniformed safety employees to the streets replacing them with civilians where possible. This assumes the replacements would not be paid at the same salary levels.

Hoaglin’s committee is moving forward in planning how to monitor the city’s progress with the 15-point plan. The committee had an organization meeting on October 30 and heard from city leaders.

“We needed a good understanding of each of the 15 areas. How we are going to keep score on these changes is the question we must answer as we move out on this.”

Hoaglin said his group will meet three times a year – February, June, and October. The committee plans to release its first report by March 31 and will follow with smaller reports after each meeting. He expects they will introduce a major report card on the city each March.

“We feel we will hold the city’s feet to the fire over the next few years and we will make an honest report to the citizens of Columbus,” Hoaglin said.

The Reform and Accountability Committee will meet in late March to issue its first report.