Who Are You, and What Have You Done with the City Council?
As part of an effort to maintain a three-month operating reserve in the 2009 budget, the Birmingham City Council decided yesterday to give back $9 million in hush money discretionary funds allotted by the mayor .
The Birmingham City Council decided Sunday to make deep cuts in the city’s budget, including money that would give laptops to middle schoolers and $9 million in discretionary funding given to council members by the mayor.
They also agreed to hold spending for most boards and agencies at 2008 levels.
As a result, the city would retain three months of operating expenses, an estimated $105 million, in its reserve fund in the 2009 fiscal year. Council members also pledged to write up a policy that would require such savings in the future.
In last week’s “War on Dumb”, Kyle detailed the big hole in the mayor’s proposal:
Earlier this year, the Finance Department gave the council an analysis of its fund balance. That analysis said that it is the city’s stated policy to “maintain a reserve (fund balance) in the General Operating Fund equal to 15 percent of General Fund expenditures or 3 months of operating expenditures — whichever is higher.”
…Langford’s proposed operating budget is $428 million, a $100 million increase over last year. When you do the math, that means that the city should keep $107 million in its reserve fund. But Mayor Langford’s budget wasn’t going to do that.
The new taxes raised by Langford and the council has brought in almost $31 million that wasn’t spent this past year. These funds were supposed to go for new initiatives, including transit improvements, police and fire protection and scholarships. However, since the city did not spend the money in time, those funds rolled over into the 2008 fund balance, bringing the reserve fund to $119.4 million. That’s $12 million more than the $107 million the city needed to satisfy its policy, and the city should be free to appropriate that money as it sees fit.
However, $12 million wasn’t enough to fill the hole in Langford’s budget, so his staff dipped deeper into the reserve, $24 million deep. [emphasis mine]
Stunning, I know. Actually not, given Larry’s propensity to spend money he doesn’t have. I don’t know why the Council members chose to give back their slush funds, but I’d like to think they (finally) realized that money was nothing but a club to hold over their heads so Larry could get his way. Now perhaps we’ll see real, ongoing oversight and fiscal responsibility.
I can dream, can’t I?