Published: July 13, 2007 04:29 pm            

NA CITY COUNCIL: Time to talk ’08 budget

Fresh from seeing the state cut their 2007 budget 3.6 percent, New Albany City Council members will convene a rare Saturday morning meeting to discuss proposals for 2008.

City department heads have submitted to Controller Kay Garry their proposed 2008 budgets. As happened last year, they total about $20 million. The 2007 budget was eventually pared down to about $16 million.

“What they have put in is not what they’re going to get,” Garry said.

In some cases, “they” might not be the ones adhering to the budgets. After his narrow primary loss, Mayor James Garner is not up for re-election, and whichever man replaces him — Doug England or Randy Hubbard — could make significant staffing changes.

Budget negotiations and adoption traditionally conclude in late September, and this year that will happen amid an election campaign in full swing. Five of nine council members are seeking re-election, including the unopposed Dan Coffey.

“The first thing we’re going to do is try to get a real, true balanced budget,” Coffey said, one that would not require cuts from the state.

He said he’d take a close look at the use of city vehicles for commuting and whether the cash-strapped Street Department is performing more tasks than it once did.

Coffey’s colleague Jack Messer also cited the department as an area of concern. The separate Street Department budget endured a 26 percent cut from the state soon after the council had approved an $800,000 cash infusion to cancel a growing deficit.

“It’s a department that does a lot of good for the city, but it’s not paying for itself,” Messer said. “We’ve got to start looking for ways for it to make money, whether through fines or whatever.”

Donnie Blevins, another councilman, works for the Street Department, but said he was focused more on how much the Fire Department’s and Police Department’s budgets dominate the general fund, accounting for more than four-fifths of it.

“I know something’s got to be done about the 82 percent,” Blevins said. “The city’s just having a hard time functioning on 18 percent. We’ll see what the arguments are Saturday.”

Fire Department overtime payments have exceeded the budgeted amount for more than a year as more firefighter jobs have become vacant. Half a dozen hirings are in the works now, city officials have said; Garry said the department submitted a $9 million budget, the same proposal as last year.

In the weeks ahead, the council will quiz individual department heads about their suggestions, Garry.

        

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