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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > September > 06 > Entry
Ellen Belcher: What if Riordan had said no?
If Tim Riordan were a small person, he wouldn’t be coming back to Dayton to step in when City Manager Rashad Young leaves next month for Greensboro, N.C.
When he was first elected mayor of Dayton, now-Congressman Mike Turner wanted the old guard, high-level administrators at City Hall gone. He pegged them as Democrats (though they saw themselves as professional administrators first and foremost).
Riordan was one of the people who eventually was pushed aside, exiled to the airport by a new city manager, Bill Estabrook, who was decidedly Turner’s guy. In time, Riordan went on to have a fine career in Cincinnati, always keeping in touch with friends and former colleagues in Dayton.
Now Dayton has brought him back, needing its one-time finance director to figure out how to deal with a daunting $15 million to $20 million budget deficit.
Imagine the pillow talk with his wife when he was weighing whether to come out of semi-retirement.
The fact that he said yes makes the point that Turner missed back when: Truly professional public administrators can roll with the politicians. They know their obligation is to the institution and the people whom voters put into office. The good ones believe in taking orders — or quitting in the face of stupid ones.
A few points about this juncture:
Young has talent. He’s a loss. But Dayton is an amazing place. This community is almost inexplicably resilient, regardless of who’s been in important offices. It has been taking punches for almost 40 years, yet look around.
As deep as some problems are, there are always good people tackling problems and trying to fix things. Important, impressive amenities are still here, still being looked after, and new ones have continued to be built as Dayton and the larger community have shrunk.
(Of course, many of these investments have occurred with less of the required money coming from Dayton or its city government.)
No matter how awful things have been, resignation and abandonment just haven’t been in the water.
The opportunity Young’s leaving creates is that Dayton has an interim person doing a job he can afford to lose. As with Dayton schools’ energetic superintendent, Kurt Stanic, Riordan needs this work like he needs a hole in his head. That gives him license to act and lead without fear or favor.
Riordan is not a shrinking violent. He’s not coming here to mark time and leave the next person a mess that’s bigger than the one he knows is his for however many months.
He’s had experience with tough times. Fifteen years ago, Riordan was acting Dayton city manager for a time. He was in charge when the city cut $8 million to balance its budget, but that effort involved eliminating a mere 78 jobs. (The cost-cutting included more than just cutting people.)
This year the city’s employment is 1,409, which is 125 fewer than last year, and almost 500 fewer than in 2001.
If all $20 million of the coming shortfall had to be saved by eliminating jobs, Dayton would have to cut more than 200 positions.
That scenario — an unlikely one — is complicated by the fact that Dayton negotiated labor agreements with its firefighters and service workers saying that, in exchange for wage freezes and furlough days, the city will not lay off any of them through May 2010.
Not all the facts, however, are negative. Dayton is offering an early-retirement plan, which will result in some people leaving voluntarily and some savings.
And there’s this: Ohio’s police and firefighters have a great gig that allows them to freeze their pension benefits and take an annuity instead of adding to their pension. To get into the program, however, they have to leave after a set number of years.
In 2011, 59 of the 160 Dayton police and firefighters who signed up for this deal must retire. Some are expected to go early, in 2010.
That’s not to say it’s good that police and firefighters are retiring; but it makes saving through restructuring somewhat easier.
One option that’s not out there is tapping its reserves, which Dayton did heavily in 2001 and 2002 — Turner’s last year as mayor and Rhine McLin’s first. The policy is to keep six to 10 weeks’ worth of city expenses on hand, and today there’s barely cash for six weeks in the bank.
Quite possibly only someone who doesn’t need the job would step into Dayton’s spot. Lucky for Dayton that Riordan forgives and forgets.
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