A Bit of a Stretch

It's hard to believe that nobody in the administration took a close enough look at the official budget statement to uncover the flaw that now presents a $1.7 million dilemma for the city.

The auditors apparently didn't proofread the document either, before sending it to the state Division of Local Government Services. It took a lowly citizen journalist to bring the matter to light, to the consternation of authorities who now have to deal with it.

The newly-formed budget advisory committee has now become witness to the debacle, on top of trying to deal with numerous glitches in the five sessions held so far with the City Council. The administration revealed the problem to the committee and council on Thursday.

The committee is dealing with the big budget binder and most likely was not provided with the 11- by 17-inch official budget statement document that is much less bulky, but of greater importance to the process, as it is subject to state review and acceptance. The state can disallow items, such as unfounded revenue claims, or reject the budget for other reasons. What state officials will do about an egregious typo remains to be seen.

However, the members of the budget committee are a sharp, bright group and no doubt would have also spotted the error, had they been given the official document in addition to the big binder.

The budget sessions that began two weeks ago were all supposed to run two and a half hours, but two were cut to an hour each, so people could go home and watch the presidential debates. Due to the curtailed schedule, some presenters such as the Fire Division have yet to be heard. The council plans to hold another budget session Monday, after what is projected to be a very short City Council meeting at 8 p.m. in Municipal Court. There will be another budget session on Thursday.

So far, the sessions have been devoted to hearing presentations and asking questions. There have been no actual "deliberations," or discussions of how to amend the budget. And now there will have to be some major amendments to make up for the deficit.

The council's Finance Committee had hoped to wrap the budget up in November. For various reasons, the process usually straggles on until sometime in the third quarter of the fiscal year, meaning more than half of the salaries and wages and other expenses have been paid out and can't be subjected to cuts. The council may want to stick to the original timetable, but at this point diligence may trump speed.

On Thursday, the committee and council also saw the projected capital budget that covers costly items with a useful life of five years or more, such as vehicles, roads, equipment, technology and so on. The chart shows capital expenditures of well under $2 million in 2008 zooming up to more than $8 million in FY2009 and over $12 million in 2010. This chart alone needs a lot more explanation and discussion than the few minutes given Thursday, as all the expenses represented will be paid for through bonding, or debt. A new focus on technology that will subsume much of the current Public Information operation especially needs more explanation.

The public is welcome to all budget sessions, but so far few people have attended. Plaintalker gave an overview of the budget process a few weeks ago and it does deserve the taxpayers' attention, especially in these increasing hard times. New Finance Director Douglas Peck wants to correlate expenses with what the public desires in terms of services, but so far the public isn't talking. Have your say before it's too late!

--Bernice Paglia