A special meeting of the City Council has been set for Monday 7 p.m. (and Tuesday, if necessary) in City Council Chambers, 45 Lyon Terrace to vote on Mayor Bill Finch’s proposed $520 million spending plan for the budget year starting July 1. What the council does as a whole largely depends on the committee report of Budget and Appropriations which will likely vote on the budget this weekend at sessions scheduled in the Legislative Office of the Morton Government Center, 999 Broad Street, or Monday at its regularly scheduled meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the Wheeler Room of City Hall, according to city’s website. Beware, the budget committee has not been consistent regarding meeting venues. Monday’s council agenda follows:
MATTERS TO BE ACTED UPON:
Budget and Appropriations Committee Report re: General Fund Budget
Votes as follows:
General Fund:
a. Revenue Increases
b. Revenue Decreases
c. Appropriation Increases
d. Appropriation Decreases
e. General Fund Budget Fiscal Year 2013-2014 as amended.
Why not save time and energy and just ask Big Tommy Mac how the vote goes today?
The City Clerk’s office confirmed B&A has a Friday night meeting starting at 5:30 PM in the Legislative Offices on the second floor of the Annex (last time I was there). A couple of Council members say the meetings are different when the public is present, perhaps more businesslike? Happy that taxpayers get the Council more serious about business, that should be ongoing ALL YEAR.
I can affirm the way this is done, with no monitoring as such during the year, and then this series of sessions where the advice they start with is from a City employee, Tom Sherwood, and then their own elected leader, another City employee, Tom McCarthy tells them what is in or out of bounds. To me, the whole budget mess is in play. We need to beat the Tom-Toms. They are bringing the City down with bad practices year after year leaving us past a point of no return for sure. Time will tell.
The votes are divided this way, in part because under the City Charter it only takes a simple majority to cut spending but a supermajority to increase it.
There is a simple test for the B&A Committee’s work. Will the Committee do what it takes to cut spending by enough to avoid a tax increase? If so, they should be complimented. If not, we need to see how the full Council votes on Monday and take steps to hold people accountable in all ways possible, including but not limited to November’s elections. The taxpayers of Bridgeport have had enough. This time it’s different.
*** FROM THE MAYOR TO THE “ASSUMED B&A COMMITTEE’S PROPOSED BUDGET” THAT’S RELYING ONCE AGAIN ON CITY EMPLOYEES TO COME UP WITH MORE GIVEBACK MONEY THEY WILL NOT HAVE IN THE FIRST PLACE! MORE STATE BUDGET NUMBERS “MONTE” THAT WILL PUT THE CITY BACK INTO A BORROWING AND SPENDING PHASE WITH MORE DREAMWORK PROMISES FOR THE FUTURE! SO THE CITY COUNCIL WILL VOTE TO “THROW IT UP, THROW IT UP” AND “WATCH IT ALL FALL DOWN” WHILE THE MAYOR AND ADMIN “STILL GOT THEIR MONEY!” ***