As a nation we have always been resilient and our people have always collaborated to do what is necessary to ensure prosperity in our country and the world. We are doing just that as a City government by making do with what we have and doing what we do with less income. Recovery has been slow but we will continue to move in a positive direction. We “keep the faith” in our federal, state and local governments. We may not always agree on how we are going to get there and it may be necessary through our ballots to make changes in government including elected officials, but we believe that in the end all levels of government will succeed. Government must remember that it represents the people because we are the people. Elected officials should faithfully, honestly and impartially govern by respecting the will of the people. We must not forget that the government belongs to the people and therefore elected officials should represent the people’s will and their best interests. We as a City are taking a positive approach. If our department heads, our elected officials or I can be of any assistance to you we are available. Feel free to contact any of us.

This Administration has been fortunate to have a fine staff of employees and volunteers. During the past three years we have had a hiring freeze during which those who leave the City’s employment by retiring, or for any other reason, have not been replaced by new hires. Instead their duties and responsibilities have been shared by the remaining staff. This has reduced the City’s expenditures by over $1,300,000.

In the year 2011, our employees, including the OPBA Union (police), have agreed again to no increase in wages and benefits. This will be the second consecutive year and we truly appreciate the employees agreeing with a budget that does not include an increase in wages. Therefore our cost for wages and benefits only increased for those who are automatically increased due to their length of service. This is saving the City hundreds of thousands of dollars, and therefore our City staff is providing the same level of services with less people and at the same level of compensation they received in 2009.

In 2009 we expected a 4% decrease in revenues. We finished the year slightly less than that and as we entered the year 2010 our budget predicted an additional 6% decrease in revenues. As of this writing it would appear that we did slightly better in our revenues than in 2009 but our optimism is very guarded knowing that this year beginning in April 2011 continuing through August 2011 the majority of the jobs at the VA Hospital in Brecksville will be consolidated with the Wade Park VA Louis Stokes Medical Center. This major loss in revenues will be first be realized in the year 2011 and therefore we have a concern for what our anticipated revenues will be for 2011 and into the year 2012. In the year 2010 the City’s withholdings of income tax held their own as new jobs were added in the community through our Economic Development Program. Our City School District, which has laid off many teachers and staff, is also among those with negative withholding taxes compared to previous years. Our Finance Director has instructed City Council we should be guarded until such time as we fully realize the impact of the reduced revenues of the VA Hospital vs. the new jobs that will and have been created these past two years. We also add to our concerns the fact that there is a new County Government and the new administration in Columbus. Predictions are that the municipal shares of funds from the county and state will continue to decrease placing further burdens upon our General Fund collections and our future budget. Limited interest income, a reduction in profit tax and a reduction in county and state funding together creates the very guarded and very conservative atmosphere when we consider our budget beyond 2011.