Fiscal impasse : Inaction by aldermen doesn’t sway mayor to change budget
Posted on Thursday, October 2, 2008
Coody
Fayetteville Mayor Dan Coody said Wednesday he's not planning to change his controversial budget proposal to the City Council.
"We have no plans to because we believe the budget we presented is the best one for Fayetteville at this time," Coody said.
Meanwhile, Ward 3 Alderman Bobby Ferrell, who declared at Tuesday's agenda session that he would not discuss nor vote on a city budget until the mayor proposed a balanced budget, is standing by his guns.
"As soon as a balanced budget comes forward, I'll engage," Ferrell said Wednesday.
The standoff could lead to a city shutdown in January.
City Attorney Kit Williams said a budget resolution, like any city resolution, requires five affirmative votes to pass.
The council has eight members, four of whom have indicated they will not or may not vote on the budget.
Ward 4 Aldermen Lioneld Jordan and Shirley Lucas said at the agenda setting session that, like Ferrell, they will not vote on a budget until a balanced budget is proposed and Ward 2 Alderman Nancy Allen is considering following suit. Williams said the mayor can cast an affirmative vote on the resolution, meaning only four aldermen need to cast affirmative votes to approve a budget. "If there are not five votes to pass, then the budget does not pass, and there's no budget," Williams said. He said that by state statute, the mayor is required to present a budget by Dec. 1 and the council is required to pass a budget by Feb. 1.
"Of course, that doesn't help much for January," Williams said. The city's 2008 budget ends Dec. 31. "My understanding is if a budget is not passed by Dec. 31 and there's no other measures taken, I don't think the city has any authority at that point to spend any money. "Which means no wages, no health insurance premiums, no utility bills paid. Nothing paid. That's not a good scenario, and I'm sure that's not going to happen," the attorney said. He does not think any kind of stopgap measure will be necessary because he believes a budget decision will be made by the end of the year. According to Paul Becker, finance and internal services director, the city spent about $ 10 million last January. Williams said the council usually passes the budget at the first meeting in December, although sometimes it is earlier. The 2008 budget was approved Dec. 18, 2007. "I think this will blow over and a majority of people on the council will adopt a budget," Williams said.
Resolution At the center of the showdown is an August resolution by the City Council requesting that the budget submitted to it by the administration be balanced. "That means no reserves: balanced budget," said Jordan, who will participate in budget discussions but said he won't vote on approving a budget until the mayor changes his proposal to a balanced budget. Coody is not planning to do that. "I presented the best budget we can for Fayetteville. I would not at all be comfortable presenting a budget to the City Council that I thought was damaging to the city," he said. The 2009 budget Coody presented would use about $ 535, 000 in cash reserves, which have been described as the city's savings. "Here's my feeling. I want the administration to bring us a budget where expected revenues and expenses are equal. That's what you call a balanced budget. It's not a good idea to start the year by dipping into reserves. This is where leadership is essential," Ferrell said. At the agenda-setting session, Lucas complained that in past years the council has had to make adjustments to the budgets proposed by the mayor. Last year, council members had several meetings where they discussed budget cuts while going through the budget line by line. "That's what we've had to do every year, and we assumed that you were capable of bringing forward a balanced budget," Lucas said. "Sure we could," Coody said Wednesday. "But it would involve either layoffs or raising taxes, and neither one of those are acceptable. "Ferrell said he understood that Coody didn't want to cut people or services," but, leadership is a hard job at times. "Allen, who was one of the five who voted for the resolution requesting a balanced budget proposal, may also join the "no vote"group. "We made the request, it didn't happen. I am seriously considering following suit," she said. Alderman Kyle Cook, Ward 2, also voted for the balanced budget resolution, but unlike Ferrell, Jordan, Lucas and Allen, said he would participate in the discussion and would vote on the budget. "We'll be working on it, trying to come up with that final budget," Cook said, adding," It does bug me that the mayor refuses to follow the resolution. "Jordan said he took the resolution as a directive to the mayor, not a request. "The idea that I was given a directive to present a balanced budget is false," Coody said. "The council made a request for us to present a balanced budget, but we could not do that in good conscience because we would have had to either raise taxes at exactly the worst time or lay people off. And our staff is already overburdened, and our community is continuing to grow. Using the reserves was the best solution. "Ferrell emphasizes the resolution aspect rather than the word request which was part of the resolution. "We live in a form of government where the legislative branch of the government did not make a request, they passed a resolution asking the administration to bring forward a balanced budget," Ferrell said. The state statute requiring the mayor to present a budget doesn't say balanced budget," but the resolution said that," Ferrell explained. He said he is also hanging his hat on the state statute about the mayor's duties that says: "Perform such duties compatible with the nature of his office as the city council may from time to time require. " "I'm saying, the City Council is requiring the mayor to bring forward a balanced budget. That's where I'm coming from."
Budget "What I'm saying is, we've asked for a balanced budget every year. I think we need the respect of that this year," Lucas said. Coody maintains that the city has presented balanced budgets the last two years and the council rejected them which led to the necessity to make changes. "The 2009 budget that we're discussing right now is the same budget we passed in 2008 except with raises, some technology upgrades, fuel increases, a little bit more money to maintain the routes for Ozark Regional Transit, and a little bit more money to bring the library employees' raises in line with other city employees' raises," Coody said. The summar y budget presented to the council for 2009 was $ 35, 919, 400. That is $ 896, 400 higher than the $ 35, 023, 000 budget adopted by the council for 2008. For Coody, council responsibility is a key factor in the budget debate. "The City Council has the ultimate authority over the budget process and approving the budget. Their job is to amend and approve the budget, and they have a budget with which to work," he said. City Council already voted not to raise property taxes for the 2009 budget. Political game playing ? Ferrell said he could not understand why the mayor would not present a balanced budget when the council had already "legislated"that they wanted one. Asked if the mayor should present less than what he thinks is the best budget, Ferrell answered," No, I expect him to make cuts where he thinks it's best for the operation of the city. "Coody said there are no cuts left to make because of budget cuts in the last three years. "We've cut down to the bone. If we cut any further than this, we'll be cutting services and laying people off," he said. The mayor said spending 20 percent of the extra in the reserves to avoid raising taxes or cutting services and personnel "is by far the best way to go. " "To me, it's fiscal sustainability. I feel like the people that elected me expect me to represent a fiscally sound government, and that's what I'm trying to do," Ferrell said. While Coody said is not planning to present an alternate budget, he did say," I'm certainly willing to do whatever I can, and I hope the rest of them decide not to boycott a conversation about how we can do what's best for Fayetteville. That kind of political grandstanding is unfortunate and counterproductive. If this were not an election season, this boycott would not be happening. " "It's better to focus on productive things, rather than the process we're going through now," Ferrell said.
Coming together Despite the appearance of impasse over the budget decisions ahead, both sides have hope. "They're going to come together. No one's going to stare the other side down where we don't have a budget. That doesn't make any sense. That's not why people were elected, and that's not why people ran for office, to do something like that," Williams said. "I would hope that everybody will take a deep breath and not worry about who blinked first, or whatever," he added. He said he hoped both sides will decide there must be a middle ground somewhere. Coody thinks the council will approve a budget by the end of the year, and Ferrell is "hopeful"for the same. "At the end of the day, I think we all want what's best for the city. Unfortunately, I guess there's not a universal expectation of what that is," Ferrell said.
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