City council members approved a resolution that establishes a 50 percent reduction in pay for elected officials.

Councilman Joe Bratkovich made the proposal Tuesday in an effort to ease some of the financial strain on the cash-strapped city.

The proposal passed on a 3-1 vote. Councilman Mitch Ufner cast the lone vote against the proposal.

"The positions of mayor, two councilmen and the controller are up for election next year and I want to get the salary set in time so that the candidates know what they will be earning going in," Bratkovich said.

Bratkovich informed council that he would donate half of his current $5,000 salary for the remainder of his term.

Under the proposal, effective Jan. 1, 2006, the mayor would earn $10,000 a year, the controller $9,000 a year and council members $2,500 a year.

Also included in the motion is the treasurer, an office that pays $18,000 a year.

"We are looking at projections of being $1 million in the hole in three years," Mayor Leonard Pintell said.

The current payroll of $63,000 would be cut in half, a savings of $31,500 to the city.

Kraus said the move would be both symbolic and monetary.

"We need to look toward

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next year and beyond and how we will be able to meet the budget," Kraus said. "If we are going to ask others to sacrifice then we need to start with ourselves, however small that amount may be."

The city of Butler is faced with a projected $320,000 shortfall for this fiscal year.

Pintell said the city is preparing to ask the unions for city workers for some sort of concessions on their medical benefits.

Pintell said the city would be renegotiating a contract with its city workers when the current contract runs out at the end of 2005.

He said the city would ask the unions for some type of concessions on their medical benefits at that time.

"The union people need to understand that we are trying to do what we can to improve the city's finances," Pintell said. "The cuts need to start with us, and hopefully the unions will join in."

Kraus acknowledged that cutting his salary in half wouldn't solve all of the city's needs.

"If we can get concessions we could save a lot of money," Kraus said. "If we take a cut then we can let the workers know that we know what they are going through and that will give us some credibility.

"We all know that the fire and police in this city are underpaid. We must make it clear that our request for concessions is out of necessity and not a reflection of what we think they are worth."

Bratkovich agreed.

"Our actions need to show the public that there is a problem," he said. "I should have brought up this suggestion four years ago."

Ufner said he wanted to see the city's unions take a step forward to help.

"I would be willing to give everything back if the unions agreed to give something back in return," Ufner said. "Otherwise I don't think it's necessary. I spend a lot of time working on the streets committee."

Ufner said the gesture of council returning its pay, even if only symbolic, wouldn't make a difference to the city's budget.

"What we are talking about here is so minute against the problems of the city," Ufner said. "I want to be able to guarantee the workers of our city that they will have jobs in the future. We can't do that by what we are doing here. We need to find something more creative to keep them on their jobs."

Pintell said that no amount of money the city might be able to save would be too small.

"This has the potential of saving up to $100,000, and that is not a small amount," Pintell said. "I think we need to look at anything that will provide financial security for the city of Butler."

Council voted to amend the tax exemption schedule for new businesses that relocate within the city of Butler.

Effective Jan. 1, first-year exemptions would drop from 100 percent to 50 percent. Second-year exemptions would be reduced from 75 percent to 25 percent. And there will no longer be a third or fourth year exemption.

Also, businesses that moved from one location in the city to a new location would no longer be eligible for the exemptions.

Businesses that relocated before Jan. 1 would get the exemption under a grandfather provision of the new law.

"We need to face the reality of the situation we are in," Kraus said.

Pintell also announced that the city is preparing to talk to the top 20 tax-exempt businesses in the city to request a donation of 25 percent of what they would have paid had their businesses been taxable.

If all 20 businesses participated, the city could raise an additional $192,000 in revenue.

Pintell said the city hopes to have an answer from the businesses by the end of September so the amount could be included in the 2005 budget.

"We need residents like George Steffish to step up and help," Pintell said.

Steffish, an attorney with an office on North Washington Street, donated $1,000 to council to be earmarked to buy video equipment for the Butler Police Department.

"We need to remember that everything is not all doom and gloom," Bratkovich said. "We have the potential to make a great city even greater."