It appears that the City of Niles’ fire and police departments will take a slight hit to personnel as city officials work to overcome a $300,000 deficit between projected revenues and expenditures for the 2017 general fund budget.

City Administrator Ric Huff addressed the budget issue during a Committee of the Whole session following Monday’s meeting of the Niles City Council.

Huff said he and city staff have come up with a plan to balance the budget that includes eliminating one position from the police department, the part-time program from the fire department and all capital expenses, including purchasing new vehicles and equipment in 2017.

“We made some pretty difficult decisions,” he said, reiterating that this is not a final budget. He asked council members to provide suggestions for the budget by the end of the week.

Huff said the plan would reduce the police force from 16 officers to 15. The move would result in a savings of just more than $100,000 including all ancillary expenses that occur with the employment of a full-time person, Huff said.

Eliminating the part-time fire department program would save approximately $76,000. The fire department started the part-time program three years ago in order to have three people working on each shift: two full-time firefighters and one part-time firefighter. Huff said the move would mean the fire department, which responds to medical and fire calls, would go back to having two full-timers on each shift.

Huff also said the city would increase the amount of money it takes from delinquent tax funds by $50,000.

A number of factors led to the budget gap, Huff said, including what he called “flat” revenue sharing from the state. Huff said the 1.3 percent increase in revenue sharing would not cover the rising cost of other expenses incurred by the city, including payments to pensions and healthcare.

Huff said the city is projected to contribute $1.2 million toward pensions this year, an increase of $500,000 over last year’s pension contribution of $700,000.

Huff said the city is looking at changing its pension plans for the future.

Council members praised the work city staff has been doing over the past few years despite reductions in staff and resources.

John DiCostanzo and Mayor Mike McCauslin criticized state legislators for not providing municipalities its fair share of revenue.

Following the budget discussion, Huff proposed that the city institute a penalty fee for anyone who does not submit an event application by the required 60 days prior to an event. Huff said too many people or organizations have been submitting event applications well after the deadline, requiring city staff to spend many hours working out the details for the applications.

The council is expected to address the issue at a later meeting.