This week Muncie Mayor McShurley, in a move to cut the city's $3.8 million deficit for 2009, laid off 40 Muncie firefighters, one-third of the city's fire department staff. The mayor claims this will save the city almost $2 million in funds for the fiscal year. However, in an interview with Indianapolis' Channel 13 Eyewitness news, Muncie Fire Chief Sean Burcham claimed that the decreased number of personnel "can't be effective. We don't have enough people to go around."
The Muncie Police Department has also been involved in the budget crisis, as they, plus the fire department, account for more than 80 percent of Muncie's budget. McShurley has asked the police to make $1 million worth of cuts, be they through layoffs or other concessions.
And while the race to cut enough funding may be won this year, the mayor will still have to shave off enough public money to combat the $6.5 million deficit predicted for 2010, and the $8.5 million deficit for 2011.In other words, unless McShurley plans on cutting her mayoral staff, or her own salary, count on police layoffs to be the new heated debate in 2010. So much for the security of public safety.
Ball State University, unlike the Muncie community, has almost no reason to worry about the budget situation. Why should it? Ball State is almost completely independent of the city in regards to public safety. The University Police Department already employs more tahn 30 workers, including 12 officers, a detective unit, and a K-9 unit. Ball State doesn't pay property taxes to Muncie. Heck, all that's missing is a university-owned fire department...
Of course!
Ball State should buy the Muncie Fire Department. Or at least what's left of it.
It's so obvious. Ball State already pays $100,000 a year to Muncie for fire protection. We clearly don't want to pay Muncie any more than that, so why pay them at all? A new fire truck can be purchased for a scant $200,000, so Ball State will never have to worry about forking over more money to Muncie. Plus, Ball State can afford to hire (at least a few) of the 40 firefighters that will be laid off in the next few weeks. hey're ready and eager to work, and they're already experienced. Plus, I'm sure they won't mind a slight reduction in their wages if BSU employs them. t's a win-win scenario.
But where will BSU find the money.
Accord to The Star Press Web site, you can see that in 2008, 417 people at Ball State got paid more than Mayor McShurley's meager $70,295 salary. In fact, even if you throw out President Jo Ann Gora's $356,000 salary in 2008, the other 400 plus people make more than $29 million in total. And that's only 400 out of more than 3,000 university employees. Slight pay cuts at every level would easily raise the necessary funds to hire firefighters. That, or the university could take the money out of the $6.7 million they receive for general repair.This plan should make solid fiscal sense to Ball State.
And if the Muncie government wants Ball State's firefighters and crew to cover areas of the community surrounding the campus, they could pay Ball State fire protection money in exchange for services rendered, say, $100,000 per year. That's far cheaper than having a full-time fire staff sucking vital public money away from the Muncie government. And Ball State will in turn be receiving money from Muncie instead of begrudgingly giving meager sums to the city.
And that's only the beginning. As Muncie's budget crunch becomes more and more severe, Ball State could assimilate more and more vital community services: streets, parks, cemeteries, building commissioners. This would prove to be an excellent lure for potential new students, as the university could emphasize "hands-on" learning programs and placement in the Muncie community; after all, Ball State would own the programs, they could stock the jobs with students, who would be cheap labor. By the time the Muncie government gets back on its feet, BSU could control the majority of the city's functions! Or rather, Ball City, as it will be renamed in the near future.
It's as simple as that.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
