How Batavia will cut costs to make up for Sam's Club closure

No new vehicle this year for Batavia police administrators.

A pancake breakfast again, rather than a dinner, to honor employees.

No reimbursing tuition for employees upgrading their work-related knowledge and skills.

That's what Batavia is doing to deal with the $800,000 to $1 million annually it thinks it may lose from the unexpected loss of the Sam's Club warehouse store. The store is closing Friday.

"I think we have to be extremely careful this year," City Administrator Laura Newman told aldermen Tuesday, to avoid tapping in to the city's reserves.

Alderman Dave Brown wondered, however, whether the city was "overreacting to something we don't know." Newman had pointed out officials don't know whether people who shopped at Sam's will shop instead at other Batavia businesses.

"How are we going to get (building) inspections done any sooner than what we said was unacceptable?" Brown said of delaying hiring a second building inspector.

And Alderman Michael O'Brien was disappointed about not hiring an officer to devote to joining the North Central Narcotics Task Force for proactive drug investigations. But Police Chief Dan Eul said he is meeting with representatives of the DEA and the Kane County Major Crimes Task Force to see about using existing resources to join a heroin task force, for reactive investigations.

"While this is a throat punch, we can't lose sight of all the other things we have momentum on," Alderman Marty Callahan said, including three stores planning to open this year. "This is more of a setback than anything else."

Newman presented a list of immediate actions she described as "quick, low-hanging fruit":

• Dropping an employee tuition-reimbursement program, which had been cut during the 2008 recession and resumed Jan. 1.

• Banning out-of-state travel for employees.

• Paying for police Tasers over five years, rather than one year.

• Delaying $25,000 worth of fire department equipment purchases.

• Having a pancake breakfast instead of the planned dinner (it alternates by year).

• Putting off buying furniture for the police records office.

• Eliminating an $8,000 increase for professional services for economic development.

• Not hiring a summer intern for the community development department.

• Delaying the purchase of a police administrative vehicle.

• Eliminating the purchase of anti-vandalism cameras that were to keep an eye on the Wilson Street bridge.

• Canceling the police subscription to the Lexipol management software sooner than planned.

The delays and cuts would amount to about $576,000.