case study

The case analysis below places you in the role of a Public Works Director faced with the prospect of making further budget cuts after already making deep cuts in employees and service levels the previous year. What fiscal steps would you take to "clean up Winchester", while balancing this need with citizen and Council concerns for more user fees or higher taxes? No Clean Sweep in Winchester Under attack from a newly formed Tax Reduction League, the city of Winchester reduced the ad valorem tax by a rate that amounted to a municipal budget cut of 5 percent. Winchester is a city of 150,000 population in the upper Midwest. It is the center of a rich agricultural district but also is highly industrialized with a serious air pollution problem Faced with instructions from the City Council to effect savings in the Department of Public Works in order to reduce fuel consumption and keep within the smaller budget, Superintendent Fleming Hartman thought hard about what services could be eliminated and what maintenance costs could be cut. He decided that major savings could be made in the street-cleaning department Clean streets were desirable, he thought, but they were not essential as were other maintenance services. With the approval of the mayor and City Council, he established the sweeping schedule on a regular basis to the downtown streets and main thoroughfares. Residential streets were cleaned only in response to complaints and then only if they were close to an arterial street. He was able to sell four sweepers and two flushers and cut the work force from twenty-four to twelve. Fuel consumption was substantial in street cleaning each sweeper used 5,000 gallons of fuel a year and the sale of the equipment saved about 20,000 gallons The new street-cleaning plan went into operation in February. The first adverse reaction came after the last snowfall in late March The sweepers took several days to clean up the sand and other abrasives curb-deep in some places that had been spread to improve driving conditions. Complaints poured into the office of the Public Works Department, the two local television stations showed films of the accumulated grit, the Daily Bulletin editorialized against the inefficiency of the street department, and the mayor telephoned Superintendent Hartman demanding that something be done immediately to get the public off his back The complaints did not end after the clean up of sand. As spring advanced, unsightly litter accumulated, paper was blown into yards and against buildings and fences, beer and soft-drink cans tinkled as they were propelled down the street by the wind, and dust and soot sometimes filled the air Moreover, the lake in Winchester's large Greenbriar Park became increasingly polluted from the streams and storm drainage flowing into it, In the previous year the Tax Reduction League had been the voice of the people. It was now replaced by environmental groups and neighborhood associations crying out against the dut and litter "Clean Up Winchester" was the slogan adopted by these various groups. As a result , the City Council gave street sweeping a high priority in drawing up the new budget. But though many were concerned about municipal aesthetics, many also were concerned about high taxes. A state-mandated property- reassessment program that would raise ad valorem taxes, the loss of federal funds, and finally inflationary costs made it difficult for the City Council to provide a balanced budget without a tax increase, anathema to the people. To avoid or minimize a tax increase, the council ordered department heads to develop user fees in budget areas where rates could be established to pay for programs Public Works Superintendent Hartman recerved an extra instruction in formulating his proposal he was to do everything possible about meeting the pressures to keep Winchester's streets clean lable The case analysis below places you in the role of a Public Works Director faced with the prospect of making further budget cuts after already making deep cuts in employees and service levels the previous year. What fiscal steps would you take to "clean up Winchester", while balancing this need with citizen and Council concerns for more user fees or higher taxes? No Clean Sweep in Winchester Under attack from a newly formed Tax Reduction League, the city of Winchester reduced the ad valorem tax by a rate that amounted to a municipal budget cut of 5 percent. Winchester is a city of 150,000 population in the upper Midwest. It is the center of a rich agricultural district but also is highly industrialized with a serious air pollution problem Faced with instructions from the City Council to effect savings in the Department of Public Works in order to reduce fuel consumption and keep within the smaller budget, Superintendent Fleming Hartman thought hard about what services could be eliminated and what maintenance costs could be cut. He decided that major savings could be made in the street-cleaning department Clean streets were desirable, he thought, but they were not essential as were other maintenance services. With the approval of the mayor and City Council, he established the sweeping schedule on a regular basis to the downtown streets and main thoroughfares. Residential streets were cleaned only in response to complaints and then only if they were close to an arterial street. He was able to sell four sweepers and two flushers and cut the work force from twenty-four to twelve. Fuel consumption was substantial in street cleaning each sweeper used 5,000 gallons of fuel a year and the sale of the equipment saved about 20,000 gallons The new street-cleaning plan went into operation in February. The first adverse reaction came after the last snowfall in late March The sweepers took several days to clean up the sand and other abrasives curb-deep in some places that had been spread to improve driving conditions. Complaints poured into the office of the Public Works Department, the two local television stations showed films of the accumulated grit, the Daily Bulletin editorialized against the inefficiency of the street department, and the mayor telephoned Superintendent Hartman demanding that something be done immediately to get the public off his back The complaints did not end after the clean up of sand. As spring advanced, unsightly litter accumulated, paper was blown into yards and against buildings and fences, beer and soft-drink cans tinkled as they were propelled down the street by the wind, and dust and soot sometimes filled the air Moreover, the lake in Winchester's large Greenbriar Park became increasingly polluted from the streams and storm drainage flowing into it, In the previous year the Tax Reduction League had been the voice of the people. It was now replaced by environmental groups and neighborhood associations crying out against the dut and litter "Clean Up Winchester" was the slogan adopted by these various groups. As a result , the City Council gave street sweeping a high priority in drawing up the new budget. But though many were concerned about municipal aesthetics, many also were concerned about high taxes. A state-mandated property- reassessment program that would raise ad valorem taxes, the loss of federal funds, and finally inflationary costs made it difficult for the City Council to provide a balanced budget without a tax increase, anathema to the people. To avoid or minimize a tax increase, the council ordered department heads to develop user fees in budget areas where rates could be established to pay for programs Public Works Superintendent Hartman recerved an extra instruction in formulating his proposal he was to do everything possible about meeting the pressures to keep Winchester's streets clean lable