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Council subcommittee backs reallocation to fund seasonal park and street workers, keeps pool funding pending grant
Summary
Department heads proposed reducing equipment purchases and shifting funds to seasonal hires for cemetery, parks and the street department; the pool line remains in the budget while officials await a YMCA grant decision in February.
Laurie Garcia, the public properties department head, asked the Lorain City Council finance subcommittee on Jan. 13 to reallocate existing budget lines to fund seasonal workers and keep basic services at cemeteries, parks and city-owned properties.
Garcia told the committee she wanted "an additional $5,400 for one seasonal to help keep the grass cut at the cemetery," and later proposed moving $45,000 from a planned new-equipment purchase into seasonal wages for parks. She said the park department could not operate without seasonal staff.
The request followed a line-by-line review of the department budget. Garcia said she would reduce the park department’s regular wages figure to $468,659 and reduce a new-equipment appropriation from $59,007.25 to $14,007.25, reallocating about $45,000 toward seasonal employees. She suggested the cemetery hire would be a short summer position, for example a high-school worker.
Councilwoman Lawrence Brikowski praised the shift, saying she appreciated Garcia’s effort to “move things around to keep us in line in the budget” and noting the practical need to keep grass cut, especially around holidays. A separate request from the street department asked for about $60,000 for seasonal labor to cover mowing and other property maintenance; Garcia said that would fund roughly 10 part-time seasonal workers for that department.
Garcia also addressed pool funding under contractual services. She said the city currently budgets $90,000 for the YMCA contract and for pool security, and that the city has applied for a YMCA-related grant; she expected to learn in February whether that grant will be awarded. Garcia said she included the $90,000 line in the budget pending the grant outcome.
Councilor Springhouse raised an alternative idea of negotiating with the city union to allow supervised community-service workers to assist with mowing; Garcia and others said state and union requirements would require a full-time employee to supervise any such participants.
The chair directed administration to incorporate these department-level reallocations into the worksheet the auditor and administration use to assemble the permanent budget for council review.
The subcommittee did not take a formal vote on the specific reallocations during the Jan. 13 session; department heads and administration agreed to update the consolidated budget worksheet and return changes for council consideration.
