Budget boycott : Three aldermen refuse budget talks until proposal balanced
Posted on Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Three members of the Fayetteville City Council said will not play the budget ballgame until they get the balanced budget they requested of Mayor Dan Coody.
"I'll show up if I have to; I'm not going to take part, and I won't vote,"said Bobby Ferrell, Ward 3 alderman.
Both Ward 4 aldermen, Shirley Lucas and Lioneld Jordan, said they agreed with Ferrell.
Coody's 2009 budget proposal would use about $535,000 in cash reserves, which have been described as the city's savings.
In August, the council approved a resolution presented by Ferrell "to request that the budget to be submitted to the City Council by the administration be balanced."Ferrell referred to that resolution, which passed with a 5-3 vote, as a council mandate.
Jordan and Lucas and Ward 2 Aldermen Kyle Cook and Nancy Allen voted with Ferrell on that August resolution.
Jordan, who is also a mayoral candidate, said," I'm not ready to support or pass anything that is not first presented to the council balanced like the resolution stated."
He said he took the resolution to be a direction, not a request.
For Ferrell, his resolution for a balanced budget meant not using cash reserves.
During a discussion at Tuesday's agenda-setting session about possible dates for budget workshops, Ferrell said," I just want to say I'm not going to discuss the budget. I'm not going to do anything with the budget."
He said if he had to, he would attend meetings, but he would not take part in discussions or decisions about the budget until the administration presented a balanced budget.
Coody told the dissenting council members that if the council didn't like the budget he presented they could change it and adopt it and that would be the budget the city used.
"My job is to present the budget that I think is best for the city, which I did. And, I'm not interested in raising taxes, laying people off, and the only option is going into reserves,"Coody said.
"If you don't agree with that, then it's your budget. It's the City Council's job to amend and approve the budget. If you don't like what we handed to you, change it. That's your job, by law. That's the council's job."
City Attorney Kit Williams said the council has the ultimate authority to pass the budget. He also said he didn't think council members could be required to participate in budget talks.
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