Toledo Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson on Thursday proposed balancing the 2016 general fund budget by hiking expected city income tax revenue this year by $3.2 million, and using more capital improvements money for daily operations.

The mayor gave Toledo City Council a list of cuts and revenue enhancements meant to fix the out-of-balance budget.

Included is an expenditure of  $50,000 to hire a firm to tell the city where it can save money.

She also asked council to increase the budgeted salary for city Safety Director Bob Reinbolt from $63,264, which he gets for 20 hours a week, to $94,533 for 30 hours a week.

Councilman Tyrone Riley questioned why the city needed to spend more money for the safety director. Chief of Staff Mark Sobczak said the job was written into the budget as 20 hours “in error.”

Council has until Thursday to approve the 2016 general fund spending plan, which stands at $253.8 million with the amendments Mayor Hicks-Hudson proposed. That is up from $252.1 million when the mayor first released the plan in November.

The biggest adjustment Mayor Hicks-Hudson made was altering her assumption for what the 2.25 percent income tax will generate this year. In November, the mayor said it would net $167.5 million but she increased that by 1.9 percent to $170.7 million.

Finance Director George Sarantou said that would be the largest amount ever collected from the tax in city history. In 2013, the payroll tax generated $158,774,970. In 2014, it was $164,786,618, and last year, it brought in $168,985,708.

The city also will receive $1.625 million this year from Lucas County for 911 cell phone-related revenue, Mr. Sarantou said. That money is a refund of charges on cell phone bills the county collected for technology upgrades, he said.

“This is what is left over and it is being divided up in the 911 system proportionately,” Mr. Sarantou said. “That is a one-time thing this year.”

Melanie Campbell, the city’s budget commissioner, also said the city would have to transfer more than expected this year from the city’s capital improvements budget to the general fund. 

In November, Ms. Hicks-Hudson said she would have to move $10.4 million in 2016 — which she also said was too high but unavoidable.

It will instead be $11.1 million, a 6.7 percent hike, Ms. Campbell said.

Since 2010, the city has shifted millions from the capital budget to the general fund to keep it in the black and to fund the salaries of police and fire personnel — the fund’s biggest expense.

Issue 2 on the March 15 ballot, a referendum to increase the 0.75 percent temporary income tax to 1 percent, would have allowed the city to slash that transfer in half this year and cease it beginning next year, Mayor Hicks-Hudson said. Voters soundly rejected the increase.

Ms. Hicks-Hudson on Tuesday reduced how much she wants to increase the city’s monthly trash fee, although the new fee still will be higher than what Toledoans currently pay. 

That created a shortfall the mayor promised to fix Thursday.

The mayor in November said the budget required increasing the monthly trash fee from $8.95 to $15 for most households and from $5 to $8.50 for senior citizens with homestead exemptions. 

Now, she wants it hiked to $11.50 for most households and $6.50 for seniors with homestead exemptions.

That reduction — and the fee increase not being in place Jan. 1 — means the 2016 general fund budget proposed late last year will fall short.

The city expects to collect $11.27 million from the trash fee if it’s increased as proposed starting April 1. The originally proposed fee hike would have increased annual revenue from $8.8 million in 2015 to $13.2 million this year.

Councilman Tom Waniewski said he would not vote for the trash fee increase and blasted the Hicks-Hudson administration for increasing spending rather than cutting more.

“If anything, we should be decreasing expenditures,” Mr. Waniewski said. “I don’t think anyone heard what the voters told us on March 15.”

The proposed amendments also slash $300,000 from fire department wages line item — but at the same time adds $538,391 to pay for fire deaprtment overtime.

The city reduced the money it expects to get from city-owned cemetery revenue from $569,653 to $219,653, a 61 percent drop.

“There was a mistake made in the projections,” Mr. Sarantou said. “That is a more realistic number.”

The mayor also proposed increasing the economic development budget by $120,679; increasing the amount given for building inspection by $10,850; increasing the expected revenue this year from Ottawa Hills for fire protection to $462,232 up from the originally budgeted amount of $430,000; increasing how much Toledo pays to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council by $67,000 to $1,787,000, increasing the city dues for the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments by $10,340 to $65,340; and decreasing the expected revenue from advanced life support services by $875,000 to $4.26 million.

Councilman Peter Ujvagi asked the administration to find money to resurrect the city’s “mill-and-fill” program, which resurfaced nearly 11 miles for the modest cost of $576,501 in materials last year. There is no money for mill-and-fill this year, nor is money budgeted for crack sealing that helps extend a street’s life.

Mr. Waniewski went further and admonished the mayor’s top officials, and said council should set budget priorities rather than “plead with the administration” for funding.

“It is unconscionable that we do not have this as part of the budget,” he said.

Mayor Hicks-Hudson said she would maintain a hiring freeze for nonessential personnel and ban nonessential travel.

Council meets Tuesday for its regular meeting, when it is expected to vote on legislation increasing the monthly trash fee, the mayor’s proposed amendments, and the budget.

Contact Ignazio Messina at: imessina@theblade.com or 419-724-6171 or on Twitter @IgnazioMessina.

First Published March 25, 2016, 4:00 a.m.