"I think we predicted back in March that we would be seeing a need for cuts and frankly our predictions were pretty right on, we've had to cut programs, we've had to raise some fees, we've cut a lto fo positions that were unfilled."
And Watkins says the number of new employees is almost negligible. Plus there will be no across the board performance raises in the budget."Salaries are the same. Frankly we've asked for a million dollars back from our employees and we're still discussing exactly how we get there but for the most part I think there has been acceptance of the need."
The cuts will apply to all city government employees. That means everyone from the city manager's office all the way down. But Watkins says these cuts are not unique to Columbia. He says cities across the country are facing tough choices as they prepare their budgets. In fact Columbia is doing better, he says, than most other cities."A couple things distinguish us - one I think we've got a really good finance budgeting system and we saw this coming and we've been preparing for it. So its not as abrupt as maybe what we've seen in other communities. Secondly the local economy here while its worse thatn what I've seen in the 20 years I've been here, when I talk to my counterparts in other parts of the country, we're doing ok, we're doing ok."
The details of the budget should be released early next week. © Copyright 2012, KBIA
