Liz Brown Offers Up $7.8 Million in Budget Cuts
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 11/17/08 @ 1:08 am - Filed Under City Council, Featured
A few weeks ago the city council delayed passing the city budget in order to give councilwoman Liz Brown (and anyone else for that matter) time to come up with additional cuts. The final round of cuts were due last Friday and they will be discussed at this Tuesday’s budget meeting (likely the council’s final budget meeting).
It looks as if Brown took full advantage of the extra time. Her proposed cuts total $7.8 Million although $2.2 million of that are health care benefits for some current retirees that I believe the city is obligated to pay. You can download her full list of cuts here but some of the larger ones are:
- Eliminating 13 police positions that were unfilled all of last year - $1.1 million
- Postpone the replacement of 48 marked police cars and equipment - $1.37 million
- Cut $205k from the law enforcement training budget
- Eliminate all part-time interns in all departments
Brown is also looking to reduce a variety of smaller line items from all the remaining departments that weren’t previously looked at by city council. These smaller items include travel, seminars, office equipment, subscriptions, etc. I took a quick glance at these and it looks like there is probably about $400k worth of cuts here that are similar to previous uncontroversial cuts made in other departments.
Tuesday’s council meeting should be quite interesting and don’t forget that there will be a new legal public hearing before the budget session begins where you can make your voice heard. Update 11-17-2008 - A local paper reports that there will not be a new legal public hearing as the city clerk asked the state if it was necessary and the state responded that it was not.
Comments
8 Responses to “Liz Brown Offers Up $7.8 Million in Budget Cuts”
Leave a Reply
I think her cuts will not pass, based on what I read this morning in the JG.
They delayed the final budget vote specifically for Ms. Brown. Everyone else had their cuts already lined up and ready to go.
The morning paper quotes Tom Smith as saying that her cuts will be introduced as a package instead of individually. That should swiftly bring this matter to a long overdue close. I agree with Mr Knuth that they will vote no on this package and finish this process three weeks later than they could have.
I don’t think that’s going to happen.
I don’t think they will go through them line by line but it won’t be just a block vote…
I think credit is due Liz Brown for her diligence in this matter as she met individually with department heads to work with them and understand their budgets before making recommendations. Given her approach of meeting with individuals and working with them on this difficult issue, I’m not sure it could have been done any faster.
It is very good work and a level of dedication I’ve not seen on Council. It will be a shame if her work and recommendations are dismissed out of hand without due consideration.
At a time when due to the downturn in the economic situation, crime will rise, is it smart to focus cuts on a police department?
If the department doesn’t need the unfilled positions then… OK. But, it appears the replacements have been necessary. Now the city is facing a law suit for failing to grant “comp” time. Where will the city get the money to pay even the lawyers in this suit?
As far as Savings on cars and equipment…. Careful that this doesn’t lead to junk on the street!
Training…….. Leave it alone. You will never get sued for ‘to much training’.
And……. how much do you save by dumping the interns?
How about taking away the cars from all the political appointees that really don’t need them. Pay them mileage to drive their own cars. I’ll bet that would amount to more than 48 cars from the police department.
I agree with Fred 100% on this issue. While I am not the biggest fan of Ms. Brown I do know her beliefs are in the right place. When she talks you do not have to wonder what her angle is. She only got on council to make a diff. My guess she has no long term plans to make a life in local elected circles.
Now something that has not been discussed, nor the media has bothered to look into is Department Heads getting 6% bonus of any money they come in under budget. While I have heard about this for years it is open issue according to postings on the FOP site.
I guess my question is if the 6% rule is true does that mean Chief York get 6% of the $1.1 million the police do not spend on salaries? That is nice $66,000 bonus.
I would also like to have the Chief explain the cost of installing new equipment into new police cars at $27,000+ and then also showing refitting existing cars with new equipment at $27,000. I have been told that includes labor to install the new equipment. If that is true that means labor is being charged twice. Once under the Comm. Department annual budget and then again under equipment again.
What are we getting in the lease of equipment. Other cities outright purchase their equipment and nearly outift them with the same type of equipment for thousands less.
Frankly, I think the officers are getting asked to give up any pay raise (which I support) but at the same time they must live with a bloated budget that could well afford a raise if it was not ripe with a bunch of junk.
There I have written my thoughts.
I also think City Council is 150% wrong if they elect not to giving Liz Brown a fair hearing. For Tom Smith it comes to me as being a double standard as he often wants to discuss issues far past common sense time period but now wants to cut Liz Brown off at the pass.
Keep in mind Liz Brown represents voters who elected her on making local government accountable. Maybe eight other members may talk the talk but she appears the only one that wants to walk the walk.
Well done Liz Brown.
I think city council needs to slash $400,000 and more.
Keep after all on City Council.
As stated above, “Brown is also looking to reduce a variety of smaller line items from all the remaining departments that weren’t previously looked at by city council. These smaller items include travel, seminars, office equipment, subscriptions, etc. I took a quick glance at these and it looks like there is probably about $400k worth of cuts here that are similar to previous uncontroversial cuts made in other departments.”
Keep up the great work, there is a way to slash spending and reduce taxes.
Well, this is the whole “Free Market Conservatism” thing.
Let’s SLASH the budget NOW to make it look good, and we will worry about long term planning (like replacing police cars) down the road.
kinda like mortgage companies and automakers manipulating today’s numbers and failing to plan for tomorrow. Didn’t that lead to problems?
Once again folks- if you want services provided by the city, there is a cost. PERIOD.