Mayor Crews: City on the Hunt for Further Savings After Laying Off City Attorney

The city of Cedar Falls is looking to cut costs.

"Our expenditures are increasing faster than our revenues, and unless we do some changes we're going to be in some financial problems in the future, in the the next four or five years," Cedar Falls Mayor Jon Crews said. "A number of cities are already declaring bankruptcy and are laying off a number of employees, and we don't want to do that."

Cedar Falls has laid off one employee, City Attorney Tom Meyer, on April 1. Crews said future staff reductions could come in the form of attrition: as staff members quit or retire, the city may examine whether or not that position needs to be filled, or if it could be filled with part time instead of full time employees.

"We want to look at everything we're doing and try to do it better or cheaper," Crews said. "It might be privatizing or outsourcing."

Crews said replacing Meyer's attorney services with a private firm out of Des Moines will save the city of Cedar Falls over $100,000 each year.

Read more: City Attorney Tom Meyer Laid Off as Cedar Falls Anticipates Budget Shortfall

Staffing changes are not the only thing the city is considering. Crews said other initiatives, like switching city lighting to energy-saving LED bulbs, could create savings.

The city has posted a call to action online and in the Currents newsletter, asking community members for ideas on how to trim the Cedar Falls budget. Here's a snippet from that:

The City Council has created a task force, made up of city staff, to develop a five year Operating Budget Shortfall Recovery plan to avoid a future financial crisis.

Input is being collected from employees, but we would like citizen input as well. If you have suggestions for the taskforce, please feel free to submit your ideas to Richard McAlister, Director of Administrative Services, at (319) 268-5117, or contact him via email.

Despite the search for savings, Crews said Cedar Falls' budget is fine for now.

"We have a cushion in some areas. We raised taxes a little bit this year, a little bit over two percent. We’re legally able to raise more," he said. "But we’re supposed to be good stewards of the tax payers' money, and we shouldn’t raise taxes unless we have to."