Thanksgiving Message from Mayor Becky Stinchcomb

With Thanksgiving upon us and the holiday season drawing near, we have much to be thankful for.  I am truly thankful for the opportunity to serve as your mayor.  As I reflect on this holiday, I am grateful for all we have accomplished and look forward to working with City leadership, Council and citizens as we continue to chart our course for a stronger, more sustainable Gahanna.

Two weeks ago, my administration presented Council with the City’s 2015 budget.  The budget was the result of a year-long engagement process between City leadership and Council.  As a result of the ballot losses of 2013, we made a commitment to Gahanna citizens to develop a sustainable operating plan that would allow us to do the very best with your valuable tax dollars.  

Despite reductions made to many of our programs and services, and given our limited available resources, I am grateful that we have still been able to provide services that many of our residents have come to expect.

Thanks to the dedicated staff of Parks & Recreation, we have been able to provide select park and recreational opportunities for our community.  Thanks to a well-trained and responsive police force, we have been able to maintain the safety and security of our citizens.  Thanks to the tireless efforts of our Service department, we have been able to keep Gahanna’s streets safe.  Finally, thanks to the work of our Economic Development department, we have been able to create jobs and to offer businesses an opportunity to thrive and grow in our community.

Many thanks to all of our full-time and part-time city employees who strive to provide the best possible service to our citizens.  I am thankful to our elected officials that work together to make Gahanna a great city. I am also grateful to the individuals, organizations and businesses that volunteer their time by serving on boards and commissions or donate funds and resources to help sponsor events throughout the year.

Although our work at City Hall is important, the true strength of our community comes from its people. Gahanna is a vibrant, diverse community, with much to offer.  Thank you to all you do to make our city a great place to call home.

As you celebrate this holiday, surrounded by family and loved ones let us be mindful of those who are less fortunate in our community.  Let us also remember our police, firefighters and first responders that help keep our city safe.  Finally, let us continue to pray for our military, who bravely risk their lives to protect our country’s borders home and abroad. 

As a reminder, City Hall will be closed in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, November 27 and Friday, November 28, 2014.  Regular business hours will resume Monday, December 1, 2014. 

Wishing you and your family a safe, restful and Happy Thanksgiving!

Mayor Becky Stinchcomb
City of Gahanna

Charting a Sustainable Future

As a result of the income tax ballot losses in 2013, Gahanna City leadership made the commitment to citizens that we would come up with a sustainable operating plan that would allow us to do the very best we could with the valuable tax dollars that citizens have entrusted us with. Over the past year, my administration and I have worked diligently with members of Council and citizens to do just that.  The proposed budget plan focuses on funding essential services, taking into consideration our limited revenue resources.  This year’s annual budget request document is the product of an unprecedented level of collaboration between Council, citizen stakeholders and represents the highest levels of transparency and accountability.

The 2015 Budget, as presented to Council is a five-year plan that sets the financial course for the City of Gahanna.  The plan outlines our priorities as it relates to our current operating expenses and guides us in making future capital expenditures.  In undertaking this yearlong process, we took into account our current economic environment, re-examined our priorities and looked at what we consider to be our City’s core services.

In assessing our financial future, we first reflected on the past.  Looking at our 2015 projected revenue vs. the last “normal” year before the recession, 2007, we saw a $3.6 million drop (12%) in overall revenue to our General Fund.  The gains we have seen in some of our revenue sources over the past few years just have not been enough to counteract the dramatic reductions in grant revenue, interest earnings and State funding. 

These permanent reductions have led us to develop a plan for the future that makes the most of our existing resources. The foundation of the 2015 budget is rooted in the concept of Sustainability.  This past year, my administration developed what we call the Sustainable Operating Model (SOM).  The SOM is built upon two key concepts:

1. We will maintain the City’s existing core infrastructure and assets at a professionally appropriate level; and
2. Ongoing operating costs must be able to be paid for using ongoing revenue sources.  That is, we will not rely on one-time windfalls, accumulated savings, or short-term cost-cutting measures to help balance our operating budget.

The SOM is our five-year plan for General Funded City operations.  The SOM, combined with our Capital Investment Plan (CIP) guides us in managing what we do have as a City at a sustainable level, while using our limited one-time resources to make targeted investments in jobs and infrastructure that provide for the health, safety and welfare of our city. 

I recognize that the 2015 budget does not include every product and service that I, as your Mayor, would like to provide to the citizens of Gahanna.  However, my administration is confident that it does provide citizens the core essentials we must have to continue to make Gahanna the place we are proud to call home.

The creation of our annual budget request document is always a culmination of a full year of hard work by the city staff, Council and our citizen stakeholders.  I would like to take this moment to thank those individuals who participated in this collaborative process.

The 2015 Budget is available to view on the City’s website.  I encourage you to review the document and submit your questions via email to budget@gahanna.gov.  Over the next few weeks, we will be continuing the discussion regarding the budget with Council during upcoming Committee meetings.  We will also be providing a platform for citizens to comment during formal Council meetings.  So I encourage you to attend. As always, we would like to hear from you and look forward to your comments and questions.

Mayor Becky Stinchcomb

City of Gahanna