Well, another night, another meeting. The Finance Committee met tonight to consider the 2009 budget. We started with presentations from the Municipal Judge and the Finance Department. You should watch Municipal Judge Warchol on the cable channel describing the changes he has made in courtroom operations.
At last Wednesday's meeting it became clear there would be plenty of debate, as I related in my last post. Everyone was asked to send in a summary of their suggested budget changes so that staff could prepare estimates on the impact to services and cost. In fact, only Ald. Reddin and myself submitted comments (click here to see the list). Note that Ald. Reddin's ideas, submitted last week, included reducing the gasoline and diesel fuel budget by over $56,000.
When it came time to discuss the budget, Ald. Jerry Mellone immediately asked to be recognized and stated he wanted a cut to the fuel budget. Ald. Dan Sutton made the motion which Ald. Jerry Mellone seconded. Ald. Sutton then went into a detailed statement about why he believed oil prices are down and would remain, on average, the same as in 2008. After nearly a half hour of discussion, the motion was approved, 6 ayes (Sutton, Reddin, Nelson, Berg, J. Mellone, L. Mellone) to one nay (Garvens). Ald. Garvens said that he thought oil prices will be too unpredictable to make such a severe cut. He also noted that this was not a cut due to a reduced service (fewer trucks, fewer miles driven, etc.) but rather an optimistic guess at oil prices in 2009.
The meeting had to end at 6 due to a Plan Commission meeting. I once again asked the members to submit their suggestions ahead of time so that the city staff will have time to prepare comments on the impact of the proposed changes. Ald. Jerry Mellone explained that he had not submitted his gas budget cut suggestion since he was out of town last week.
The committee agreed to a previously unscheduled meeting for Monday, October 20 at 5:00 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers. I predict lots of debate. The meeting is open to the public and is televised.
