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Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Council Voted To OK Budget, Not Give Advice
By Michael J. Cadigan
Chairman, City Council Committee-of-the-Whole
The mayor's recent commentary about the Albuquerque City Council's version of the budget contained a number of factual errors and exaggerations.
Perhaps more disturbing, however, was the contradictory tone of his “desire and intention to work closely with the City Council” while at the same time considering the council-adopted budget to be “advisory” and subject only to his judgment.
If the Mayor had a disagreement with the budget, his prerogative under the City Charter was to veto all of it or any part of it. Instead, he signed the budget, but announced his intention to spend taxpayer money as he sees fit. The charter gives the council the clear authority to set the budget, and the mayor is obligated to execute the budget.
As for the actual content of the budget, which passed 8-0, let me set the record straight about the mayor's assertions:
n The council budget does not mandate layoffs, nor does it “direct” the mayor to lay off employees. The reductions in the Balloon Museum budget can be easily absorbed by a reduction in contractual services spending, or by holding open vacant positions and modestly increasing private fundraising. Attendance at the museum simply does not justify the level of spending proposed by the mayor.
n The council budget does not “kill” the Cottonwood Mall adoption facility, it simply defers it until, to use the mayor's phrase, “the economy evolves” and the issue can be revisited. Over the past two years, the City Council has provided more than $1 million in funding for the Cottonwood facility, and has patiently waited while the facility has not materialized. Rather than opening the Cottonwood facility, the administration has used this funding to greatly expand Animal Welfare's administrative staff and contractual services.
n A significant portion of the $1.3 million reduction in funding for the Fire Academy would have paid for non-essential, non-academy related equipment and furniture and fixtures for a press conference room, including a “green room.” The appropriation included an unprecedented $300,000 for “contingencies” which sounds dangerously like “slush-fund.” The essential training equipment can be acquired using the approximately $350,000 in capital funding left over from prior years.
n The teen depression program that the council removed from the budget was to come at the expense of $300,000 in funding for a women's domestic violence shelter that has been serving the women and children of Albuquerque faithfully for years. In a choice between a successful and well working domestic violence shelter and an undefined, yet to be developed teen depression program, the council chose to fund the program for battered women and children. When the administration has a more defined teen depression program for the council's consideration, we will be glad to review it.
n The City Council did not increase its budget in FY/09; it simply restored a portion of the $843,000 in funds that the Mayor had cut from Council Services in his proposed budget. In fact, after funding for Neighborhood Planning had been restored in the Council Services budget, the City Council budget actually decreases by $143,000 from FY/08 levels, or by 3.6%.
In accordance with the City Charter, the council has provided a budget that reflects policies, plans and programs consistent with city goals and objectives.
The mayor may disagree with the budget, goals and objectives, but as the city's chief executive it is his obligation to carry them out.
The council stands ready to work with the mayor to do what is in the best interest of the citizens of Albuquerque.
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