In times when budgets are already tight for many city departments, Albert Lea department heads on Thursday presented an even tighter 2012 budget proposal to the City Council.

Some of the ideas proposed included closing down one sheet of ice during the spring and summer, not filling empty positions and encouraging civic groups to take over projects including the city’s banners and holiday lights, among others.

Albert Lea City Manager Chad Adams said the main goal for the 2012 budget is to preserve services for residents and jobs.

The city, like many others across the state, is dealing with state cuts, including an almost $600,000 cut to local government aid.

Health insurance costs are also on the rise.

The following are some of the highlights of each department budget presented Thursday at the City Council’s budget workshop:

General government

Adams said some of the biggest changes to the 2012 budget is transferring a staff member from community development to be an administrative assistant. A few years ago there used to be both a community development assistant and an administrative assistant.

Other proposals include reducing the travel, advertising and discretionary budgets and reducing the contingency budget.

The city is also contracting out with a consultant firm instead of an actual city finance director, which will save some money.

Albert Lea Public Library

The Albert Lea Public Library, which services almost 31,000 people, had a 2010 circulation of about 307,000. About one-third of the people who use the library are county residents, while the other two-thirds are city residents, said Director Peggy Havener.

The library offers services including book clubs, computer classes, outreach services, author events, storytimes, the summer reading program, special events, downloadable books, public access computers, among others.

Havener said some of the changes she’s proposing for the 2012 budget include replacing one full-time library assistant with three part-time circulation clerks. This basically saves the city on the cost of benefits.

She is also proposing to eliminate the capital fund for 2012 that is used to replace computers and to reduce the materials used.

Total savings add up to almost $35,000.

Parks and Recreation

Albert Lea Parks and Recreation Director Jay Hutchison said this department’s budget is made up of several sub-budgets: recreation, swimming, senior center, arena, civic theater, parks and trees.

Though reductions were made in several sub-budgets, overall costs actually went up because of health insurance hikes and step increases for a few city employees.

The swimming budget will be about $62,000 lower than 2011 because of two projects that were completed in 2011. Hutchison said while a new boiler is planned for $50,000 and a new water heater for $12,000, these purchases will come out of the building services fund.

The Albert Lea Senior Center budget has a $100 increase planned because of increases in health insurance rates and step increases. This was after a reduction of about $3,000 to the operating budget.

The City Arena budget is about $83,000 down from 2011 because of the plan to eliminate a second sheet of ice from February until September. Normally, the second sheet is kept in place year-round and the main sheet is active only in hockey months.

While there will be some loss of revenue tied to this change, there will also be a reduction in utility costs. Because Waldorf College is coming to practice at the arena, this budget will come out even.

There are also plans to look at the floor underneath the ice for possible improvements when the sheet of ice is taken out.

The parks budget includes projects totaling $105,000; however, Hutchison said there are several projects that are being put on hold.

“One of our strengths is all of our facilities and all of our parks, but one of our weaknesses it maintaining them,” Hutchison said.

There were also increases in insurance and step increases for this department.

Community development

This department is now down to one staff person.

Budget proposals include having no consulting services during 2012, for a savings of $10,000, reducing travel and other training costs, along with other miscellaneous costs.

Community Development Director Bob Graham said total reductions planned in this department equal out to about 7.5 percent.

Public works

Regarding the general fund only, Public Works Director Steven Jahnke said an about $56,000 decrease is planned, including a reduction in the street maintenance budget by about $27,000 and a reduction in the City Garage budget of almost $30,000.

The snow and ice removal budget went up by about $7,000 and the engineering budget went up by about $6,000.

Jahnke said there have been some personnel changes, including a reduction in a full-time secretary at the garage and not hiring a person in the Street Department.

Police

Albert Lea Police Chief Dwaine Winkels said there are no changes in personnel expected and no major equipment purchases anticipated.

Winkels did note that there might be a few people going off the department through attrition.

Though there are no major changes planned, there will be health insurance increases to budget for.

He said the department is planning to come in under budget for 2011.

Fire and inspection

Winkels, who is also filling in as interim fire chief, said there are no changes planned in the Inspection Department — the whole budget in inspections is made up of salaries.

Regarding the Fire Department, Winkels said the budget has been modified to reflect trends over the past three years and minor operating changes have been added to reflect needed replacements.

He said it will be up to the council to decide what it wants to do about manpower to determine if there will be any personnel changes.

He noted that all equipment has been purchased by grant funds and firefighters are applying for grant funds in 2012 as well.

Adams said he and Winkels will be looking at the department in-depth during the next nine months to a year and review service levels.