Monroe to keep YMCA support

Published 10:30 pm Wednesday, December 10, 2008

MONROE — The Monroe YMCA will continue to receive money from the city next year.

The City Council voted Tuesday to pay the YMCA about $132,000 through 2009 after supporters told the council the YMCA is an important part of their lives and the community. Dozens of supporters showed up, filling the council chambers and spilling out into the hallway outside.

“This is not just about a free membership for me,” said Carolyn Davisson, who takes a free community water-aerobics class.

It’s about a promise the city made and about keeping the YMCA as a fully functioning community center, she told the council. “The YMCA could be crippled by the city’s actions,” she said.

Mayor Donnetta Walser last week asked City Council members to consider saving money by suspending or ending a $1.9 million agreement with the YMCA, which opened in 2007 in a $12.6 million building on Fryelands Boulevard.

The contract with the YMCA includes an escape clause if the city can’t afford to pay.

The city is struggling to balance its budget in tough economic times. The proposed 2009 budget is $1.3 million less than this year’s. The city has already cut or frozen 13 city positions.

The contract calls for the city to pay about $132,000 annually for 15 years in exchange for free access for residents to some of the YMCA’s programs. By ponying up some of the building costs, the city was able to bring a pool and community center to the city.

For years, a community center and pool was on the top of the public’s wish list, said Robert Zimmerman, who served on the City Council in 2005 when the agreement was reached.

“This was the most responsible way to bring a community center and a pool to the city,” he told the council. “Let’s not cause hardship on an organization that reaches out to so many.”

The city came up with part of the money for the YMCA by selling its old library building. The sale only brought in enough money to cover this year’s YMCA payments, 2009’s payments and part of 2010.

The mayor said she worries about where money for the YMCA is going to come from after money earned by selling the old library building is used up.

She sent the City Council a memo outlining why they should consider a levy lift to pay for the YMCA so voters can decide.

Once the library building money is spent, the city will have to meet its commitment to the YMCA with money from the city’s general fund, which pays for bread-and-butter city expenses such as police, parks and planning.

She isn’t against the YMCA, she said Wednesday.

“I resent being painted as hating the YMCA,” she said. “We’ve looked and looked at our revenue until we were going stir crazy. We can’t ignore a $1.9 million commitment.”

If the economy continues to sour, the next thing the city will have to cut is critical personnel. She’s concerned about the city’s water and sewer infrastructure and its ability to meet basic public needs.

“We’ve got to have a vision if we are going to survive this,” she said.

Councilman Tony Balk voted against the proposal. He supports funding the YMCA but wanted the council to drop $9,000 of next year’s payment and move it 2010 so the city could commit to paying the YMCA through 2010.

Bill Davisson, who has lived in Monroe for 45 years, wanted to know how much the city is paying for the North Kelsey development. The developer of the adjoining site decided not to buy the land and the city is trying sell the property next to Lowe’s to other shopping center developers.

The answer: $640,000 in interest this year, according to Carol Grey, finance director.

Nobody around town supported the development, but plenty supported the YMCA, Davisson told the council.

“You can’t find any support for North Kelsey,” he said. “The support came out of this building for that project. It’s dragging us down and we can’t do the other things that need to be done in town.”

In other business, the City Council asked staff to come back with more information on the effects of passing a proposed utility rate hike. The proposed increase calls for a nearly 12 percent bump, and City Council members wanted more information about the effects of a smaller increase.

The city will continue to grapple with the budget at its next meeting, set for 7 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 806 W. Main St.

Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com.