EDITOR:
On March 17, 2023 The Landmark published a letter to the editor from Parkville resident Gordon Cook. Mr. Cook’s letter requires some clarification.
Mr. Cook starts his letter with a quote from a letter sent to him in response to his request for the City of Parkville’s 2023 financial projections. The board of aldermen reviewed the city’s 2023-2027 financial forecast in several open meetings as part of the deliberations and consideration of the 2023 city budget, as well as the decision to place the question of taxes on the upcoming ballot.
All of the information is available on the city’s website:
https://parkvillemo.gov/government/documents.
El Sr. Cook solicitó no solo el pdf de la información disponible, sino también la información en formato Excel y todas las hojas de cálculo fundamentales asociadas. El personal de la ciudad respondió que estaban felices de hacer esto, pero las hojas de cálculo asociadas incluyen información personal confidencial sobre la salud y otros beneficios elegidos por los empleados, que está protegido por HIPAA. Le informamos al Sr. Cook que tomaría aproximadamente cinco horas de tiempo del personal redactar la información del personal de las hojas de cálculo asociadas y que costaría $85 ($17/hr).
El Sr. Cook no quedó satisfecho con esta respuesta. Luego, el personal de la ciudad envió la hoja de cálculo de Excel que incluía la proyección de 5 años pero no toda la información de apoyo del personal con la siguiente respuesta:
“The city did develop a long term financial plan with financial projections, which we refer to as the “Forecast” document. This document demonstrates the city’s revenue shortfall, and I have attached that document for you. However, your request for the base data is more difficult in that not all of the information may be shared due to confidentiality of employee personal information, which is protected – not the salary information as that is definitely public record – this information drills down to the personal benefit selection of every employee.
“Para proporcionar la información básica que ha solicitado, necesitaremos redactar información cerrada que consiste en información personal del empleado. El cargo $85 incluye el tiempo estimado para compilar los registros solicitados y redactar información cerrada de esos registros”.
I want to assure the citizens, that as can be seen, the city does indeed do a financial projection every year and this information is readily available to the public, including Mr. Cook. Also, we are not by law, and acceptable policy, allowed to give out our employees’ personal information. The projections show the city’s fund balance propped up in 2022 and 2023 by one-time transfers of Federal ARPA (American Recue Plan Act) funds, which will no longer be available, and then continuing fund balances moving to negative.
The fact of the matter is that the current Parkville budget cannot be balanced at our current staffing and service levels. The only thing keeping our budget in balance in 2023 is that we have nine unfilled positions, including four police officer positions. When we fill these positions – which we continue to actively recruit – the city will need to use our reserves (the city’s savings account) to balance our budget.
Most of Mr. Cook’s letter is spent discussing a tax levy that took place two decades ago when neither current elected officials nor staff was involved with the city. The board of aldermen and mayor are nine residents of Parkville that ran for public office to make Parkville the best city possible. That is our goal. We have a first class staff that is pursuing every option to provide the high quality services the residents of Parkville expect.
The board approved the two tax initiatives to address this imbalance and keep the city’s budget balanced for years to come. This will help us address the needs of a growing city, maintain high levels of service, and may allow the city to take advantage of available federal capital improvement funds for critical infrastructure improvements that will not be available in the future.
Puede encontrar más información sobre las propuestas de impuestos en https://proparkville.com.
--Dean Katerndahl Alcalde Ciudad de Parkville