A presentation delivered by Ivins  at the onset of the meeting showed more than $38.1 million in spending for 2009 in the comprehensive budget plan. Ivins said fellow City Council members had originally presented him with more than 40 million in operating costs for the upcoming year which would have resulted in a 29 percent tax hike.

“A 29 percent tax hike is not acceptable in my mind during these tough economic times,” Ivins said. “I want to keep it at 3.38 percent.”

Ivins, who originally aimed for a 2 percent tax increase, said he had asked each council member to give him their “bare bones” budget and when they were unable to reduce their numbers to his satisfaction he was forced to make cuts to them, which included de-funding several city employed positions.

Ivins’ current budget would result in 24 full and part-time city employees losing their jobs, Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco said. Ivins de-funded seven of those positions and the remaining 17 were cut within each department. The jobs being cut by Ivins include a clerk to the DPW, executive assistant to the DPW commissioner, senior clerk of water and sewer to the DPW, assistants to the commissioner and deputy commissioner of Accounts, an executive assistant and code enforcer in the Department of Pubic Safety, and a part-time clerk in the Visitor Center.

Ivins also de-funded seven newly developed positions within the Mayor’s, Public Safety and Public Works Departments. Each department will face position cuts except the Finance Department.

At the end of the presentation, both Scirocco and Commissioner of Public Safety Ron Kim voiced their displeasure over the cuts to each of their departments. Both commissioners who oversee the two biggest departments in the city brought up concerns about the services each of their departments offer the city.

“We have cut everything as far as we can possibly cut it,” Scirocco said. “We cannot operate on the numbers you [Ivins] have come up with.”

Scirocco also voiced his displeasure over cuts to city employees saying that they are the ones that clean up the city streets and fix the broken water mains during the frigid winter months. 

“We need to keep these people’s jobs,” he said. “If not, there will be a decline in services.”

Scirocco, who runs the second largest department in the city, faces the largest cuts in the proposed budget. Ivins agreed that Scirocco had really taken a hit, but added he was not comfortable with a six percent tax increase that he said would occur if both commissioners had their way of adding another $550,000 for their departments to the budget.

Commissioner Kim also voiced his displeasure over cuts to the Public Safety Department, questioning why such “essential services” that both the Public Safety and Public Works Departments offer the city had faced the largest cuts.

“Whether we politically like it or not, the Public Safety and Public Works Departments offer essential services to the city,” he said.

John Franck, Commissioner of Accounts, runs the city’s smallest department and said he will

lose 10 percent of his staff due to the cuts. However, Franck was optimistic that the council would be able to make the budget work for each department,

“We have plenty of time to free things up,” he said. “I think we can come up with a lot of good ideas before it is time to vote.”

Ivins said he is willing to work with each commissioner to help keep the positions, but said they would have to make other cuts to their budget if it is going to work.

“It’s a tough economic year and I want to keep the tax increase at 3.38 percent,” he said.

Although Ivins was pessimistic about the city’s financial future if spending wasn’t reduced, the one thing that made him optimistic was the announcement earlier in the day that AMD intended to build at Malta’s Luther Forrest Campus. He said it wouldn’t help with revenue in 2009, but the city could expect to feel its effects by as early as 2011.

“I am very excited AMD is coming,” he said. “It is not going to help us this year, but it will with future growth.”

The council has until Nov. 30 to amend and vote on Ivins’ proposed budget. If City Council members do not vote on it by Dec. 1, then by city charter the proposed budget as presented by Ivins will be adopted.

Ivins will also allow for the public to weigh in on the proposed budget at four separate public hearings.