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Mayor points to budget as major first-year success
(by Sue Reid - November 29, 2010)
Mayor points to budget as major first-year success
By SUE REID
On Dec. 1, Mayor Susan A. Drucker will mark her first year in office. She cited the city coming in under budget under her fiscally responsible leadership as one of her biggest successes thus far.
"We were able to cut $2.1 million of the budget from the previous year without cutting services," Mrs. Drucker said. "That was substantial."
She said that occurred even during an extremely tough year for the economy.
Mrs. Drucker said the city began 2010 with a general-fund cash balance of $17.8 million and, as of this month, had $20.4 million. That has occurred by keeping expenditures well under budget, she said.
Also in the area of finances, Mrs. Drucker said, as of Oct. 30, the city is almost $600,000 ahead in income-tax collections. That is a great improvement from April, when the city was $1 million behind the previous year's collection, she said.
As she promised when she ran for mayor, Mrs. Drucker has kept a close eye on the city's budget, watching it on a weekly basis and meeting regularly with department heads, she said. "They knew I wanted expenditures down."
Mrs. Drucker also has been a proponent of paying down debt, she said. "I don't believe in accumulating debt for future administrations to deal with," she said. This year, the general fund was amended by $4.7 million to pay off bond anticipation notes due in November.
"I'm extremely proud we are paying that down," she said. As a result, fire stations 2 and 3 will be paid off in full, as well as part of the Solon Community Center, which was once a $19 million debt and is now $3.8 million.
"I think that's a great success," Mrs. Drucker said.
She also has been utilizing attrition. Mrs. Drucker did not replace five full-time positions that retired. She also reduced one full-time position to part time.
By making these adjustments, Mrs. Drucker saved the city nearly $600,000 in 2010, she said. "That's strictly in personnel," she said.
"I have just been using existing personnel and adjusting responsibilities," she said. "As long as it does not diminish services to residents and saves us money, I will do it." It actually has improved departments, she said. "Efficiency goes a long way." When employees are given room to grow, they thrive, she said.
Moving forward into 2011, Mrs. Drucker has asked her directors for job descriptions for all their employees.
"It is my responsibility to make sure we are running the tightest ship possible," she said.
In the area of outreach and as part of the "open-door policy" she campaigned on, Mrs. Drucker said she has spent the past year visiting city businesses and forming relationships with business owners. "I take that seriously," she said. Whether small or large businesses, Mrs. Drucker said she is committed to strengthening the relationship between them and the city government.
"It is important to embrace them because they are the basis for the success of this city," Mrs. Drucker said.
It is the owners of the aging shopping centers, though, that are the cause for Mrs. Drucker's disappointments over thr past year, she said.
"My biggest disappointment is the lack of initiative on the part of shopping center owners to make improvements," Mrs. Drucker said of the Solar Shopping Center, Solon Square and the SOM-Centre plaza. "It is a direct reflection of the city," she said.
Mrs. Drucker said she has met with these owners on several occasions "and it's difficult to understand why they haven't stepped up to the plate.
"It's detrimental and it's a shame," she said. "I will make tough decisions in the coming year for the city to act more aggressively on how to change this." Mrs. Drucker said the city has been willing to meet these owners halfway and even make an investment "and they still look the way they do."
Mrs. Drucker said that while McDonald's restaurant is not the perfect solution for the corner of SOM Center (Route 91) and Aurora (Route 43) roads and that there are issues with the site, "you have a business owner who has been here for 30 years and investing over $3 million in a building."
She said that by Perlick-Caplin, owners of the Solar Center, not allowing McDonald's cross access to their road behind the site, "it's obstructing their development as well."
What has been a surprise to her since taking office, she said, is the amount of personnel issues she deals with on a daily basis. "I spend a good deal on personnel, which is not a bad thing," Mrs. Drucker said.
The most enjoyable part of the city's top position has been working with the employees, which number about 300 full-time positions, and allowing them to grow in their individual roles, she said.
"The employees have great ideas," she said. "I enjoy when an employee has an idea that they run with it. I love seeing the success of their suggestions."
Mrs. Drucker said she has seen growth within herself over the year.
"My patience and my understanding of people and all of their different types of personalities has been an area I have grown," she said. "I have also learned to not over-react to things.
"If we have a problem, let's talk about a solution," Mrs. Drucker said. "If a mistake is made, I won't hide it."
In all, it has been an exciting first year, Mrs. Drucker said, and she looks forward to the next.
"I would call it a very successful first year, although you always want to do more," she said. "I still absolutely love what I do. There's no doubt about it."
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