Top 5 City Council Stories From 2008
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 12/31/08 @ 3:39 pm - Filed Under City Council, Featured
I wanted to do a quick review of what I thought were the top 5 stories involving city council in 2008. There were definitely a lot of fireworks this year so it was difficult to pare it down to 5. If you disagree with the order or think something else should’ve made the list then let us know in the comments. And before I forget, I want to say thank you to all the readers and Happy New Year…
- Harrison Square - or lack thereof.
No supporter could’ve envisioned that the condo and hotel would not have broken ground by the end of 2008. The council has heard excuse piled on top of excuse from Barry Real Estate with the latest “drop dead date” being opening day for groundbreaking. Good luck with that. Of course we haven’t heard anything from the hotel developer since city council hasn’t bothered to bring them to the table despite the hotel being the linchpin for the entire project. - High Performance Government Network.
This unethical (and probably illegal) 11th hour contract signed in the waning days of the Richard administration has been a point of discussion at the council table on two separate ocassions. The State Board of Accounts got into the mix when they said it should’ve been approved by city council and violated the city’s own conflict of interest rules. And don’t forget that the city controller failed to mention she had executed a new contract last time she was brought before city council to discuss the topic. - Councilman Hines hammers mayor Henry over lack of African-American department heads.
You really should go back and watch the video to see how angry councilman Hines was. This all came to a head when the city’s Chief Technology Officer was fired shortly after going to council to present the controversial contract that outsourced the city’s IT department. Hines’ comments came during the vote to override the mayor’s veto on the fire merit ordinance. The mayor thought he had the vote in the bag after getting councilman Shoaff to change his vote but Hines threw him a curveball and the veto was overridden. - Failed Retroactive Property Tax Increase.
The new administration found themselves in quite a financial pickle after the state legislature capped property taxes as part of HB1001. The situation was made worse thanks to the previous council’s poor (unanimous) decision to cut the property tax levy without cutting spending. The new council attempted to remedy the situation by passing a retroactive property tax increase that was quickly shot down by the DLGF and called a “double cross” on taxpayers by the commissioner. What made the situation comical was that the city controller had told the council that in the city’s communications with the DLGF they felt like the DLGF would accept the retroactive increase - oops. - $2.5 Million in 2009 Budget Cuts.
Facing a massive shortfall over the next two years, mayor Henry proposed a flat budget but no cuts. In fact the mayor’s sole idea was to hope that the state legislature changed the law - something that is not going to happen. The mayor was also angling to increase the income tax but did not bother to suggest a single additional cut to his own flat budget. After weeks of discussion the city council was able cut $2.5 million from the city budget without cutting a single job. Getting any level of government to cut their expenditures is quite a chore. And changing the discussion from “what else can goverment do” to “what do citizens want” was quite a paradigm shift.
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One Response to “Top 5 City Council Stories From 2008”
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I think this is a good list; however, I would re-order them.
Mike Sylvester