In light of the announcement this week that the City of Bossier City is in such dire financial straits that it must enforce drastic layoffs in the Police and Fire Departments, and close 1 or 2 fire stations, some questions need to be addressed.The mayor announced that as of January 1, 26 police officers will be laid off and 38 firemen. The people affected were notified yesterday. Considering that the decision was just made, that’s pretty fast work.
The Times reports that “The city has been tapping its fund balance, essentially a city savings account, for several years to make up the difference between expenditures and revenue. Of this year's budget, $4.6 million came from that balance, halving it from the $8.6 million. That's down from fund balances of about $12.2 million at the end of 2007, and of about $13.3 million at the end of 2006.”
I don’t recall this being addressed in the elections a few months ago. The mayor and council have apparently had plenty of time to discuss this with the people of Bossier and to formulate a solution long before now.
The Mayor said that he waited until late in the budgeting process to publicly announce the crisis and the layoffs.
Why?
If the city has realized for several years that a crisis was looming, why have they rolled back property taxes? The answer is that they thought sustained growth and increased sales taxes would take up the slack at some point in the future. That hasn’t worked.
I have heard from a lot of people in the last few days, and none of them are happy with the solution proposed by the mayor. There is simply no way that you can keep the same level of fire and police protection if you layoff 10% of the firemen and policemen.
Everyone who has contacted me has had the same question; ‘why are we just now hearing about this’?
Some fire and police department veterans have offered to take a pay cut if that would avoid layoffs. That, of course, is not the answer, but it does show the character and spirit of the people who serve.
This isn’t, as the mayor said of the Air Force Cyber Command coming to Barksdale, a ‘done deal’. The council will make the final decision and they need your input to do it.
The layoff of Bossier City Police and Fire personnel is obsurd. City Council, especially those that want to get re-elected and Mayor Walker need to reconcider. Police and Fire Departments is the reason people come to Bossier City, not city council or mayor. Don't like the layoffs, contact city council and mayor by email or phone calls, only the citizens can make the change.
ReplyDeleteWhat's ironic is that last night, someone tried to rob Major Walker's nephew at a local convenience store, I hope they had enough police officers to work that call. How many of the cops that did work it are gonna get laid off.
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ReplyDeleteWhy won't the Times post a link to the City of Bossier's budget like they do for Shreveport? Where is the list of changes on a PDF linked to the article?
Treat Bossier citizens like you do Shreveport. Give us the information. We are not a little town any more and we moved here for a reason. The rumors are circulating that Mayor Walker is using this as a ploy to attempt to raise property taxes early next year. Has he not heard about the TEA parties? Vote No and cut his salary. I am so ashamed to be a resident of Bossier. Principal arrested and resigned. Assistant DA arrested and resigned. Mayor..........and Council......... Who's next?
10/16/2009 12:05:59 PM You can tell that some behind the scenes dealing are going on. Just look at this article. There are no comments from the union nor city council members or even residents. Had this been shreveport, Joe Shyne and Joyce Bowman will have called a press conference and asked for the mayor to resign. How does this happen to our community? Why won't the Times post a link to the City of Bossier's budget like they do for Shreveport? Where is the list of changes on a PDF linked to the article?
Treat Bossier citizens like you do Shreveport. Give us the information. We are not a little town any more and we moved here for a reason. The rumors are circulating that Mayor Walker is using this as a ploy to attempt to raise property taxes early next year. Has he not heard about the TEA parties? Vote No and cut his salary. I am so ashamed to be a resident of Bossier. Principal arrested and resigned. Assistant DA arrested and resigned. Mayor..........and Council......... Who's next? latrooper
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times comment online
This next Tuesday, Oct. 27th at 3:00pm at City Hall, there will be one of the most important City Council meetings to be held. At 3:00 they will present the updated new budget and at 4:00 there will be an opportunity to ask questions about the budget and the proposed cuts. After much digging and investigating the old budget, there is so much fat that could be cut instead of our policemen and firemen. There is corruption within and we as citizens need to take an interest in this and begin to pray for our administration and council that are supposed to be working for us. Our taxes pay for these elected officials and the city council should speak for us, not a few city employees that make all of the decisions. It was brought to my attention that even our Chief of police and fire didn't know about the cuts. I have learned that the Bossier Parks and Recreation budget is over $3 million with over 33 employees and has $ 350,000 allocated for part-time seasonal employees. Just a few years ago, the parks was run by very few and many volunteers worked the parks from concession stands to taking care of the fields. There has been much money spent on upgrading Walbrook for Dixie teams but the number of teams have over the past few years declined. This budget reflects a pay raise across the board but some must be laid off first. I have been grieved over all of the information given about how our city is run. It will take an act of God to begin to clean Bossier up and it will take a multitude of people getting off their couches and taking an active part in this process called democracy!!! There is money allocated to the Arts Council...over $ 150,000 and the employee is a relative of the mayor. In fact, there are many relatives in positions that will never have to worry about layoffs! It's not just about the layoffs, it's about what's right, and there is plenty that can be done to free up the money for our protectors on the streets. Please begin to be diligent in praying for truth to be revealed during these meetings and we need at least 500 citizens to attend this meeting to make a difference. Pass the word on, call the TV stations about this meeting, anyone who can have a voice without being threatened to lose their jobs with the city if speaking out. Uriah - please inform your congregation and get as many as possible to this meeting. If everyone began to see the corruption and who is really in charge, there would be a recall for all elected officials of this city. There are too many churches that could make a difference. We can go in peace and speak in peace to do the right thing. Please help me in reaching enough that are wanting to see good come to Bossier by inviting people to this council meeting to see what God is going to do! Pass this on to others that would help us move this city forward, and for God to get the glory. Thank you Let me know if you can come and stand by me!!
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