Gary passes budget for 2022
Plan includes 12% raises for police, fire employees
A divided Gary Common Council in a special meeting Monday approved an amended 2022 budget that cut more than $1.4 million in operating expenses while providing police and fire employees a 12% pay hike — a move one councilman said would be “crippling to the administration.”
Councilman Clorius Lay, D-At large, told fellow council members the cuts as proposed would be “crippling to the administration” as it tries to maintain and provide services residents expect.
“On paper it looks fine, but they don’t know the repercussions of what they are doing,” Lay said.
Council President William Godwin, D-1st, said the 2022 budget right-sizes government and puts the emphasis on public safety, something the council has pledged to do.
Police and fire personnel will receive a 12% pay hike instead of the 3% across-the-board pay hike proposed by Mayor Jerome Prince and his administration that was approved for all other fulltime city workers. Base pay for all full-time city workers earning less than $30,000 was also approved at $30,000.
The amendment cut professional services by $586,859, gasoline by $311,980, and contractual maintenance by $470,000, among others, across all departments. Professional services includes payment for engineers, lawyers, the city health commissioner and other services the city itself does not have staff to provide.
Godwin said the budget is based on an analysis of actual spending for the past three years.
“We didn’t zero out the whole budget. There’s a lot of money to start with including the $28 million (in American Rescue Plan Act funding),” Godwin said. He expects the administration will be able to find money not spent elsewhere, as it has in the past, that can be used to shore up the areas where cuts were made. The majority of the time the council approves those changes and that likely will not change.
“With the approval of the council we can move money in a variety of ways,” Godwin said.
The salary and operating budgets as amended are different from the administration’s request but do maximize the levy and will not result in the city losing any property tax dollars in 2022. Both budgets received a majority support of the council. The salary ordinance passed by a margin of 8-1 with Lay the lone no vote. The operating budget passed 6-3 with Councilmen Cozey Weatherspoon and Dwight Williams joining Lay in voting against the measure.
Prince said Tuesday he does not want to make a rash decision and will decide how to proceed after reviewing the changes. He said moving money from operating expenses to pay for the 12% public safety pay increase will negatively affect other areas government. Prince said the 3% pay increase he proposed was supported by the levy increase.
Police and fire personnel are slated to get $5,000 a year after taxes in COVID19 premium pay for four years and the departments were included in the 3% pay increase in his proposed budget.
“I am clearly not happy with it,” Prince said, adding the 12% increase completely threw him for a loop. He did not see a formal proposal for the increase and said the increase is unsustainable. Prince also said he has no idea where he will find the resources from his remaining budget to make up for the areas cut. Coming to the council to ask for more money doesn’t even make sense, he said.
“Maybe they don’t understand as much as they think they do. Ultimately there is no more money,” Prince said.
Prince said the cuts to the administration’s proposed budget are personal.
“Basically they feel like I don’t talk to them enough. I don’t come to council meetings,” Prince said, adding Scott King, when he was mayor, never attended meetings, either, which is why he wanted the deputy mayor position.
“The point is it is all personal. It’s about person feelings more so than the vested interest of the city. They will literally punish or impact other people to get to me.”
Lay said he does not approve of the changes.
“It’s really a control mechanism in my opinion,” Lay said. He said it will be difficult and time-consuming for the administration to come before the council each time it needs more money. He said he understands why the council distrusts the administration after the deals for the Genesis Center and Ivanhoe Gardens triggered a lawsuit, but restricting the administration won’t help.
“I think it slows down the functioning of government,” Lay said. “I think it’s going to affect all development. If the executive has to keep coming back to the legislative branch, you will get nothing done.”
Lay said police and fire salaries, which has for years been blamed for police and fire personnel leaving Gary, is not the only reason.
“I think people are of the opinion that I’m against fire and police. That’s not true,” Lay said Tuesday.
“We will not be able to sustain the police or fire department at that level unless we get additional money,” Lay said. At the new pay rate, the city will only be able to support the existing police and fire personnel and will not be able to add additional employees.
Moving forward, he said he has no idea how the city is going to negotiate a contract with the unions now that a 12% raise was given.
“I just don’t understand the long-range benefit to the city,” Lay said.
Godwin said he does not expect the police and fire salary increase to have a negative impact on ongoing contract negotiations.
“We have the power to increase police and fire salaries. This definitely will tide us over for the next few years,” Godwin said.