Toledo could face fiscal emergency

TOLEDO, Ohio (WUPW) - Mayor Mike Bell said Toledo is facing a very real possibility of fiscal emergency, or loss of local control over financial decisions, if changes aren't made.

Toledo's mayor met with his Citizen's Special Investigation Team, or CSI, Monday evening at One Government Center to discuss a long list of possible ways to close the city's $43.8 million budget gap.

Some of the recommendations aren't popular with the public, but Mayor Bell said even if he cut 172 non-essential employees, it wouldn't do enough for the budget to make it worth it.

"There is no simple formula here, and I keep saying this every meeting," Mayor Bell said. "People just want this to go away and it's not, so we have to come up with very creative ways to try to deal with it."

Of the very long list of budget-saving recommendations are increased or new taxes,such as an entertainment tax. Mayor Bell said it would be a small surcharge on things like tickets to the new arena, a movie or even private-events.

Some citizens worry an entertainment tax could hurt the local economy, but Mr. Bell said it would help pay for the security used at the events. An entertinament tax iis done in many other cities.

"People are saying they don't want to be income taxed, they don't want this or that," he said. "Well, if we want services, we have to be able to pay for them somehow," he said.

Bell said they have to do whatever it takes to avoid fiscal emergency. He said some doubt that reality, but the fact is they are already looking into talking to an auditor about going into a fiscal watch review.

"If you don't believe, maybe you'll believe the state auditor or somebody like that because sometimes there's more credibility with from somebody with outside eyes looking at this, but the other portion is we got outside eyes looking at this from the standpoint of our business community and nobody's doubting the number it's just a matter of figuring out how to fix it."

A popular resolution made Monday, Mayor Bell said police and fire layoffs will not be an option, which happened during the city's 2009 $28 million budget crunch. The next step in the 2010 budget solution process is to prioritize that long list of recommendations made tonight, and they'll review that on Wednesday.