City Budget Cuts Tabled Until Nov 18 - $2.4 Million Cut So Far
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 10/28/08 @ 9:17 pm - Filed Under City Council, Featured
The city attorney convinced council that they could not legally cut a flat 3% from the budget. As a response the council voted on a motion to cut 3% from every line item. That motion failed by a 5-4 vote with councilmembers Harper, Smith, Brown and Didier voting for it.
From there the council went line by line and voted on each and every proposed cut. The most significant cuts that were passed were a zero salary increase for all employees and the elimination of a public information officer from the mayor’s staff which was the only city position eliminated.
There was also serious discussion about eliminating the entire 911 communications department and forcing the city and county executives to finally consolidate those two departments. The motion failed with councilmen Harper, Hines and Pape voting to eliminate the department. While the vote might have failed, several councilmembers including Goldner, Shoaff and Smith made it quite clear that if this consolidation does not happen by the next budget cycle then they will vote to eliminate it from the city department.
After going through all the proposed cuts councilwoman Liz Brown commented that she was unaware that the 3% flat cut would be illegal until earlier today. Because of that she said that she did not have the opportunity to go through all the department budgets to find the $4.5 million cuts she wanted to find.
She then made a motion to table the budget ordinance until Nov 18. The delay is due to the fact that there will have to be another public notice and public hearing requiring a 10 day lead time. The motion passed 5-4 with Brown, Shoaff, Harper, Didier and Pape voting for it. So the council will reconvene their budget talks on Nov 18 to finalize their cuts.
The itemized cuts the council agreed to thus far are listed below:
Current 2009 City Budget Cuts
| Cut # | Amount | Area |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,400,000 | eliminates all employee raises |
| 2 | $20,000 | mayor's PR budget |
| 3 | $4,200 | mayor's travel |
| 4 | $2,500 | mayor's subscriptions |
| 5 | $54,700 | PIO officer |
| 6 | $50,000 | Extra city council legal services |
| 7 | $10,300 | council travel |
| 8 | $43,000 | Various metro expenses |
| 9 | $2,000 | Board of Works Office Equip |
| 10 | $10,500 | HR travel, equip, furniture |
| 11 | $7,300 | Finance & Admin travel, equipment, furniture |
| 12 | $36,600 | Community Development travels, seminars, equip, furniture, subscriptions |
| 13 | $317,428 | Various police equipment |
| 14 | $9,500 | Redevelopment travel, seminars, legal services |
| 15 | $2,340 | Police Pension travel |
| 16 | $394,849 | City Gasoline |
| 17 | $5,000 | Parks Travel |
| 18 | $57,000 | Fire Dept travel & CIP betterments |
| 19 | $9,400 | Fire Dept CIP vehicle replacement |
| 20 | $3,000 | Communications travel |
| 21 | $2,439,617 | Total Budget Cuts Thus far |
Comments
5 Responses to “City Budget Cuts Tabled Until Nov 18 - $2.4 Million Cut So Far”
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Good to see at least some progress is being made.
I couldn’t figure out whether Councilwoman Brown wanted to bring the cuts amount up to $4.5 million or wanted to find another $4.5 million. It is really inexcusable that she was the only one who wasn’t prepared to address the cuts when everyone else seemed to be ready.
Her performance aside, it was fascinating to watch council struggle with these cuts. I said all along that this was the best way for this matter to be resolved. The council will have more ownership of this budget than any previous group.
Um, what are “CIP betterments”?
Kristina, “CIP betterments” are relatively minor building improvements(”CIP” meaning “capital improvement program.”) In the City budget, this generally means small upgrades to fire stations which is what was cut last night.
this is whole budget thing is a joke…an independent consultant stated the city’s financial status was “very good” and actually had a surplus…i don’t know where these people get the numbers they are crunching, maybe our mayor should be payed what he is worth and it is not 130,000 a year or maybe the city should buy another parking lot for 2.1 million dollars