RIVERSIDE, Ohio — Riverside is looking at another budget shortfall next year.
The city council is considering approving spending about $4 million more than it plans to bring in.
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News Center 7’s Cody Butler was in Riverside and spoke to someone who wants the city to take another look.
Public safety is a big part of Riverside’s proposed budget.
Officials want to add a police officer, three firefighters and a bay for a fire truck.
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“I get you have to have new equipment,” said Tim Gosnell, a Riverside resident. “I get you have to have officers. I get ya have to have firefighters.”
Gosnell is upset Riverside’s proposed 2027 budget starts about $4 million in the red.
“We gotta be responsible here,” he said. “You can’t keep taking money out of taxpayers’ pockets. And expect folks to just say, oh, well, gee, here, nilly-willy, here’s all you want.”
The budget proposal includes adding a police officer and three firefighters.
The fire chief told us this would bring the department more in line with staffing standards across the county.
The National Fire Protection Association suggests Riverside should have about 25 firefighters.
The budget also adds a bay to the fire department on Harshman Road.
Riverside Finance Director Larry Hartlaub told council members last week that the project will be paid for over two years.
“It will actually be a two-year phase,” Hartlaub said during a council meeting. “So, it will be this much there and then a half million in year 28 in order to finish that project.”
“But they’re making it like this dire need,” Gosnell said.
Monday, we took those concerns to the city but were told the finance director was not available.
Gosnell said he’s worried because every council member signed off on the budget.
“In three years, we’ll be broke,” Gosnell said. “The city of Riverside will be spending more money than it’s made. In three years at our current rate, we will be out of business, and we will be owned by Beavercreek and Huber and Dayton, is the concern.”
He’s hoping they’ll look at making cuts before everything is finalized.
“We have to take a hard look at what we’re doing as far as personnel,” Gosnell said.
Riverside’s City Council will talk more about the budget during its meeting next week.
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