FlintTalk.com Forum Index > Political Talk Topic: Flint Wages Budget Battle

Author    Post   Steve Myers Site Admin Some council members say the amended budget is designed to pay bills. They say it’s in the best interest of the community. But one councilman says it’s just plain punitive. “People that put budgets together like this, they don’t need to serve the people of this city,” said Darryl Buchanan. The First Ward councilman is the only council member voting against significantly reducing the mayor, city manager and city attorney’s budgets for next year. “It seems like a budget that was put together to punish people for disagreements that have taken place over the past few months at city hall,” Buchanan said. The council is cutting staff at the tune of over $209,000 in the Law Department. It’s reducing wages in the city administrator’s budget by over $181,000 and it’s cutting salaries in the mayor’s office by over $71,000. Some council members say it’s in the best interest of the community. Councilman Buchanan said, “That’s schoolyard behavior. I haven’t seen behavior like this since I attended Martin Elementary. We need to start working together and start making a better example for the citizens who elected us to do the job of taking care of city business.” To be fair, council’s amended budget does add money to train more police and firefighters. But Buchanan says the overall plan is a punitive, emotional, knee-jerk reaction based on disagreements with the mayor’s office. NEWSCENTER 25 got Mayor Don Williamson’s side. The mayor’s still waiting to be briefed on the council’s budget amendment before making any official statements. Mayor Williamson says he has seven days after the council legally enacts a budget to decide if he will veto. Right now he’s questioning whether the process was indeed legal. He has the city attorney reviewing the process right now. The council has decided to add some money to its own budget, including over $57,000 to hire a financial analyst. The council says it needs that person because they have such a hard time getting budget information from the mayor’s office. Full Story: http://www.weyi.com/news/local/1608726.html Tue Jun 07, 2005 10:37 pm    Display posts from previous:   All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First

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