City council members are now the last to put their stamp of approval on proposed cuts to services and programs in Austin.

One hundred line items —some small, others likely to be controversial — will be reviewed by the council during their work session Monday night. City department heads, the city administrator and finance director were asked to give their recommendations in the face of anticipated Local Government Aid (LGA) cuts of $579,374 in 2009 and $1.21 million in 2010.

“We’ve done the work, and they’re going to go to it and tell us what they want,” city administrator Jim Hurm said Friday. “The intent is to have a darned-good work session with the council.”

Hurm explained that the council has said they would prefer not to lay off staff, and that request was kept in mind during the process.

Although Gov. Tim Pawlenty has announced what LGA reductions he recommends, nothing is set in stone yet.

Hurm said that every line item proposed is a “major decision” for the council, and he does not know how they will react to some of the proposals.

“The council here has not been a nit-and-pick … I think they have trust in the department heads,” he said.

Some proposed recommendations for 2009-10 cuts include:

Ask the Housing and Redevelopment Authority and Port Authority to take on economic development partnership without the city as a partner

Eliminate school crossing guard and Police Explorer programs

Adopt an ordinance to charge for fire calls

Eliminate mosquito-spraying program

Eliminate any improvements, such as downtown bike racks and airport sign

Close downtown mall restroom

Drop proposed improvements for Riverside Arena

Increase rates for arena usage

Eliminate subsidy of Spamtown Belle boat on Mill Pond

Establish furlough program in 2010 (five days without pay)

Property tax increase of 8 percent to cover cost-of-living and inflationary costs

Three items have been identified as having potential to provide immediate help, including: open/negotiate contracts; reduce equipment rental rates, thereby not replacing vehicles as planned; and initiating the concept of furloughs in 2009.

Proposed reductions from the mayor and city council’s budgets include: eliminating funding for the Human Rights Commission ($3,500); Welcome Center ($7,500); Fourth of July festival ($6,000); Community Band ($2,052); Austin Symphony Orchestra ($2,500); and the Employee Appreciation/Wellness Fund ($4,000).

Recommendations for reduction in the city administration budget include: reducing Hurm’s salary by $3,000 in 2009 and $2,000 in 2010; eliminating overtime for some areas; and eliminating KSMQ funding for public relations.

Other notable proposals include: not filling the professional librarian position for 2009-10; eliminating the overtime budget for police administration; eliminating an additional engineering position budgeted for; using temporary staffing for the Parks Administration secretary; eliminate winter programs in Parks and Recreation; and reducing hours and days of the Youth Activity Center.

The recommendations, if all approved, would total a $162,642 in savings for 2009 and $261,547 in 2010.

Several long-term (two to three years) recommendations were named for consideration, although they are not included in proposed cuts. They were identified as “concepts with potential:”

There are two department heads likely to retire in the next three years. Consider replacing the fire chief with the police chief as the public safety director. Expect the assistant fire chief to run day-to-day operations. Upon retirement of the fire chief, replace him with a public safety director to cover both departments.

Trainees from a proposed two-year fire training program at Riverland Community College could be housed at the fire station. This would allow full-time firefighters to move to workday and evening hours, which would allow for a reduction in full-time firefighters and get them more involved in other city functions.

The responsibility of the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center would be turned over to the Friends of the Nature Center. The city contribution would go from $300,000 to $200,000 to $100,000 to zero in three years.

Nob Hill, a city-owned sledding area, could be sold.

The city could work with Austin Utilities to contract out tree-trimming work.

If Austin Utilities were to move from the municipal building, there could be cost savings in combining positions and analyzing the potential of in-house city attorney services.

Mower County could be approached again to reduce the cost to the city for assessing services. The amount for 2009 is $195,000. The only other city in southern Minnesota of similar size that performs its own assessing is Winona.

The work session will be held in the city hall conference room immediately following the regular council meeting, which starts at 5:30 p.m. at the City Council Chambers in the municipal building, 500 Fourth Ave. N.E. The meetings are open to the public.