Budget Amendments Approved
City Council members agreed Monday (Jan. 29, 2007) on budget amendments that will drop the proposed municipal tax increase from 8.2 percent to 3.95 percent.
The savings will be achieved by reconfiguring city departments and not filling vacancies, officials said.
A hearing will be held Feb. 12 on the amendments and the council may then vote final budget passage for the fiscal year that began July 1, 2006.
Last year’s fiscal year tax per $100 of assessed valuation was $3.099 per $100 of assessed valuation. In July 2006, the city increased the rate to $3.188 for the third and fourth quarters of 2006. The proposed rate for the first and second quarters of 2007 is $3.24.
While congratulating the council and administration on cooperation for the tax reduction, officials pledged to do better in the future.
“This is a combined effort,” Councilman Rashid Burney said as he thanked all council members and the administration for the reduction in the tax increase.
“I can look any citizen in the eye and say we did our best,” Burney said.
Burney said from here on out, the council will formulate a five-year budget plan.
The FY 2007 budget process suffered from vacancies in the mayor’s cabinet, such as the departure of City Administrator Carlton McGee in October. McGee was also the city’s acting finance director for many months. It wasn’t until months later that the city had an official Director of Administration, Finance, Health and Social Services (Ray Daniels) and a City Administrator (Marc Dashield).
“That’s what really tripped us up big-time,” said Burney, who headed the council’s Finance Committee. “We had to work around that.”
The FY 2007 budget was the first budget for Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, who took office Jan. 1, 2006. She inherited from former Mayor Albert T. McWilliams the FY 2006 budget that passed in January 2006.
Robinson-Briggs gave kudos Monday to the council for cooperation in resolving the 2007 budget, saying the council worked with the administration to make sure no services were lost in refining the process.
--Bernice Paglia
The savings will be achieved by reconfiguring city departments and not filling vacancies, officials said.
A hearing will be held Feb. 12 on the amendments and the council may then vote final budget passage for the fiscal year that began July 1, 2006.
Last year’s fiscal year tax per $100 of assessed valuation was $3.099 per $100 of assessed valuation. In July 2006, the city increased the rate to $3.188 for the third and fourth quarters of 2006. The proposed rate for the first and second quarters of 2007 is $3.24.
While congratulating the council and administration on cooperation for the tax reduction, officials pledged to do better in the future.
“This is a combined effort,” Councilman Rashid Burney said as he thanked all council members and the administration for the reduction in the tax increase.
“I can look any citizen in the eye and say we did our best,” Burney said.
Burney said from here on out, the council will formulate a five-year budget plan.
The FY 2007 budget process suffered from vacancies in the mayor’s cabinet, such as the departure of City Administrator Carlton McGee in October. McGee was also the city’s acting finance director for many months. It wasn’t until months later that the city had an official Director of Administration, Finance, Health and Social Services (Ray Daniels) and a City Administrator (Marc Dashield).
“That’s what really tripped us up big-time,” said Burney, who headed the council’s Finance Committee. “We had to work around that.”
The FY 2007 budget was the first budget for Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, who took office Jan. 1, 2006. She inherited from former Mayor Albert T. McWilliams the FY 2006 budget that passed in January 2006.
Robinson-Briggs gave kudos Monday to the council for cooperation in resolving the 2007 budget, saying the council worked with the administration to make sure no services were lost in refining the process.
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 11:05 PM
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