Shaker Heights Mayor Earl Leiken Discusses Life Without a Tax Increase

Throughout his one-hour-plus presentation on Wednesday, Shaker Heights Mayor Earl Leiken referenced the financial task force he appointed in 2009.

The group of residents with financial expertise has evaluated the city's alternatives to putting an income tax increase on the Aug. 7 ballot. After $800,000 of suggested cuts, which Leiken said the city made, the group detailed another $970,000 possible cuts, though it advised officials against making them.

When Leiken at , he told the crowd about the state budget cuts that have cities like Shaker Heights returning to its voters. The mayor then tried to illustrate what aspects of Shaker Heights would be sacrificed without . The increase would produce about $6 million, but if voters strike it down, expenses will still need to be slashed.

"We've had suggestions — 'why don't you cut this department? Why don't you cut two more departments? Why don't you regionalize?'" Leiken said. "Our directors tell us we are at the size that's necessary to get the job done and provide the service that's needed in Shaker … We're doing any- and everything we can to keep costs down."

Leiken said a joint dispatch system with neighboring communities and the ongoing discussion of with University Heights are examples of "responsible" regionalism for the city.

If those efforts don't work and the public votes against increasing the income tax, here are a few departments and jobs Leiken says would be affected:

• The city would need to lay off 10 more firefighters and 10 police officers. Each action would represent a 17 percent hit to those departments and each would save the city $2 million.

• The city would cut the Public Works Department by about 20 percent, saving $1.1 million. The union contract between the department's workers and Teamsters Local 507 allows the city to resume layoffs if voters don't approve the tax increase.

• Twenty employees in the housing, neighborhood revitalization, communications and outreach departments would be laid off for savings of $1.5 million.

"Housing does inspections and also the point of sale … through monitoring vacant properties and through a lot of other things they do, they actually maintain stability," Leiken said. "You go into Cleveland and you'll see what unstable neighborhoods look like. Go into other suburbs and you'll see. Our neighborhoods look relatively good because of the efforts of our housing department."

Though some residents at the meeting complained about a lack of businesses in Shaker, the workers charged with improving economic development would likely be affected in these cuts, Leiken said.

The remaining cuts would affect workers at the Community Life department, which handles recreation. Leiken said police, in the face of more cuts, would place most of its focus on major crimes.

"You can have a city without those departments, but can you have a Shaker Heights without those departments," Leiken asked."They have played a critical and vital role in ensuring the continued strength of Shaker Heights."

Angela Marino of the , a group campaigning against the increase, disagreed. She told a story about her 15-year-son, who recently got beat up by a group of teenagers and had his cell phone stolen. She believes life in Shaker "has already been diminished."

"More money wouldn't have helped him," Marino said. "Better use of safety forces and resources might have helped."

She argued that many of the departments in Shaker aren't essential. She likened the situation to a personal bank account that needs to be monitored if its holder loses a job or faces another hardship.

"I think there are plenty of areas you can cut before you get to safety and basic services," she said. "If we are in dire straits then extras need to go first, just like in our personal budgets. If you can't afford it anymore, it has to go … No one's making up my income, I've had to take a cut."

Jeff Toppston, who has lived in the city for nearly 40 years, wanted more specific information from Leiken. He felt he received a "sales job" instead of important metrics, like estimates on how safety response time would be impacted.

"I won't engage in a debate over vague," Toppston said. "Let's have a fact-based discussion and then we can talk."

Though she clearly supports the income tax increase, Helen Sheehan of United For Shaker's Future said she was mostly glad to see a large turnout for Leiken's meeting.

"People are engaged," Sheehan said. "It's the only issue on the ballot, so it's not going to be lost in the chatter of the presidential election. To see so many people come out and ask great questions is really a positive for the community."

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