The city has been able to cut costs a tremendous amount the past few years, eating the loss of all the state aid. The state aid was an extremely large precentage of the general fund, the average person doesn't realize how well the city staff has done on this.

You can't freeze wages, the majority of the city employees are under union contracts. It's called the law!

Jordan runs a very tight budget, that's why a decrease in property values scews the precentages (tax rate). The reason for this is that if most people values drop, the pie doesn't shrink, the same general fund needs to be paid. Hence the percentages quagmire. We are in much better shape than our neighbors, from both a tax rate and in-terms of services provided.

Jordan in the past has not paid its employees very well, that is why we have lost so many talented employees and have had to start over with new ones time and time again. The current staff is very talented and that is why we must keep them around and compensate them up to par with others in their fields. Keeping them around has saved lots of money in both local knowledge and knowledge of their respective fields. Jordan actually has postponed planned staff number increases, that just means the ones we have are carrying a heavy work load, which in these slower times is a necessary step.