2016 Government Salaries Review: Doing more with less

Feb. 27--LIMA -- As the nation's economy has continued to recuperate from the effects of the 2008 recession, many in both the private and public sectors have been called upon to "do more with less," because of cutbacks in personnel or resources.

At Shawnee Fire Department, for example, firefighters have been called upon to deal with an increased workload without increasing the size of their shifts.

"In 1974, EMS was established here, so our manning increased to seven guys per shift, with three shifts working 24 hours," Chief Todd Truesdale said. "Since then, we're still operating with seven guys per shift. In 1974, we did 248 calls. This last year, we've done almost 1,500."

Background on local funding

In 2005, in an effort to create a more inviting business environment, the state of Ohio eliminated the tangible personal property tax businesses were required to pay on their equipment and inventory. That tax revenue, which was then diverted to local governments and agencies, was then supplemented by state reimbursements, which have seen an overall reduction in subsequent state biennial budgets.

In the wake of those losses, local governments have been left with the question of how to continue to fund services and the increasing costs that come with them, all with less money. According to a January report from Policy Matters Ohio, local governments in Ohio are, adjusting for inflation, working with more than $1 billion less in funding this year compared to 2010 thanks to cuts in local government funding and the loss of the tangible personal property and estate taxes.

"We had teams of interns out across the state interviewing local governments, asking how they dealt with it," Policy Matters Ohio senior project director Wendy Patton said. "We saw a lot of privatization, we saw a lot of loss of staff through attrition, we saw some combining of services."

Stretching local dollars

The attrition model has been felt in communities such as Spencerville, where the village's police and utility departments continue to run short staffed, according to village Administrator Sean Chapman. While Chapman does not oversee the Police Department, with his responsibilities centered on overseeing utilities, he did mention that the Police Department has been operating with three full-time officers rather than a full complement of four because of lack of funding, filling the gap with part-time staff. The village also approved a 0.25 percent income tax increase in 2014 specifically for safety service and law enforcement to help offset the loss.

"In the utilities department, which oversees the water, sewer, streets and parks, we have six employees including myself and the utilities clerk," he said. "We have four employees, two of which are superintendents at the water and wastewater plants, who also help on the streets when needed. We are also down two employees. We had eight and now we're down to six total. We cannot financially afford to hire two employees to where we would hire a decent wage and we don't have the resources to buy the materials to sustain having two more people out there doing projects."

For Truesdale at Shawnee Township Fire Department, the manpower gap is filled through a call-in system where off-duty personnel are called in to work should the workload require it.

"If we have one medic call and we have a second medic call, we'll page and back fill the station," he said. "In 2016, I think that 20 percent of the time, we had two calls going in at once. When you page a guy in, you pay him two hours minimum overtime, but it's beneficial to the community because we need station coverage."

Full time? Part time?

While the call-ins may be beneficial, they have also resulted in numerous overtime hours for both full-time police officers and firefighters in Shawnee Township and other locations, with some personnel working more than 300 hours of overtime over the course of 2016. In total, Shawnee Township paid almost $188,000 for more than 6,100 hours of overtime, but that number was in line with what the township expected to pay, according to Truesdale.

"Our overtime budget is pretty much in line," he said. "It's in pretty good shape."

On the surface, going with more part-time employees may seem like a solution in that they potentially would not have to be paid for overtime or for as many employment benefits. However, as Shawnee Township Fire Department considered that option, it was deemed unfeasible.

"We were looking at a plan for this, but with the Affordable Care Act, it put a mandate out that if a person worked over a certain number of hours, they had to be offered benefits," Truesdale said. "If we were going to do that, we would need about 20 part-timers to increase our staff by one. So if we need 20 part-timers and with the Affordable Care Act, it almost doubled the amount of part-timers needed to fill one shift per day per month. It just wouldn't work."

While that approach would not work for Shawnee, Truesdale said every department will approach this issue in its own way.

"Whether you go to Delphos, Lima, American Township, Perry Township or Bath Township, we're all working in a system with what we've been dealt, and we're trying to figure out how to continue to move that forward," he said. "So there will be times in areas where they may be more overtime, but the end result is about how the services being offered."

Chapman had a similar viewpoint. He said that while this scenario is not ideal for local governments and agencies, it is the reality for now.

"It's like the state has decided to balance the budget on the backs of the local governments," he said. "We're not happy about it, but we've accepted it and we've been able to modify our operations by not hiring back two employees that may have retired and not hiring the one full-time police officer and operating on part-time."

Reach Craig Kelly at 567-242-0390 or on Twitter @Lima_CKelly.

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