Dayton Daily News

Recession or not the budget is always an issue. We need to concentrate on our police, fire and services departments to be sure they are funded before other city sponsored programs. Our second focus needs to be on our business community. We claim to be business and resident friendly. Our ordinances need to be reevaluated we don't want to be Dayton or Oakwood. If our businesses prosper and residents are happy our revenue stream increases.

In excellent and difficult times it is my responsiblity, as your councilman, to protect the public checkbook and be proactive in spending. I monitor the budget to insure expenditures are aligned to the service area that will benefit our residents and the business community. Attaining passenger rail services for the City of Riverside will generate a revenue stream that can support police, fire and street services today and in the future.

Council needs to be totally involved in the annual budget, question expenditures made by Staff and to search for better ways to bring in more revenue and cut expenses. Specifically, help our business community be as profitable as possible, encourage new businesses to locate here, encourage Residents to shop Riverside, continue to improve our Chamber of Commerce and work with State and Federal legislatures to improve the business environment in our City and State.

The City of Riverside has several revenue streams that makeup our yearly budget. We continually look for economic growth from within and outside our community to strengthen our City. If our local businesses move, close or layoff and our property values within the City decline and the renewal of our police levy fails. We will need to make concessions within our budget to continue to provide essential services to our residents to maintain our City's integrity.

The city has taken efforts to reduce unnecessary expenses and to limit what gets built into the ongoing budget. The city has become very selective in spending on capital needs while focusing mainly on service delivery such as police and fire and street maintenance. The city of Riverside has sufficient financial reserves the city can draw from over the next few years while we wait for the economy to recover. Riverside hopes to benefit with job growth during the recovery period that will create additional revenue for the city.

The recession has already had a negative impact on Riverside's budget. Council must keep a close eye on any potential loss of revenues and be prepared to prioritize budget items to be able to respond quickly in order to make adjustments so needed programs and functions can be provided at the best possible level.