It has been two weeks since the public hearing, required in the review process of Mayor Nancy N. Rossi’s $168.3 million budget, and the City Council is just getting its monthlong oversight underway.
Meetings began Tuesday with the Council convening as a Committee of the Whole, under Finance Committee Chairman Bridgette Hoskie (D-1). With the review just getting going, Hoskie only had general comments as to her impressions of the plan.
Overshadowing the budget oversight is the recent audit by CohnReznick on the city’s expenditures of COVID relief money under the CARES Act, passed last year. With the arrival of millions of dollars in ARPA funds, Hoskie said the council will be looking at all the documentation.
“I think we will have to do a lot of cross referencing between the budget and ARPA. Discussions need to be had to be sure funding is solid and that items are sustainable,” she said.
While she did not attend the public hearing, she did watch it on the city’s access channel. She said the messages from that hearing were similar to what the legislative body has heard in the recent passed at similar confabs.
“Residents repeated some of the same messages given to us prior. The funding for the library is always a very important topic that we give much consideration to,” she said.
One controversial aspect of the mayor’s budget is the inclusion of raises for some elected officials. The inclusion of those raises has prompted the chairman to seek legal advice.
“I asked for a legal position on what can and can’t be done. We have that legal position, and it was shared with the council. I have a very strong opinion about what we should do and will give that suggestion to the council,” she said.
During the review, the council may make alterations in the budget but needs a supermajority of nine votes (of 13 members) to pass such revisions. To keep the quorum from the initial meeting, the review sessions are suspended, not adjourned by council rules.
The monthlong review will culminate in passage of budget ordinance on Thursday, May 5. The city Charter calls for the budget to be finalized by the first Thursday in May. This has been a high bar over the years, resulting in many budgets passing as proposed.
The charter requires the budget be passed, either by simple majority, or by default. The council may not reject the budget as has happened in recent memory. Should a budget ordinance fail, the original budget as proposed by the mayor goes into effect by default.
Ed Note – Questions went to Council Chairman Peter Massaro, and Minority Leader Colleen O’Connor. Neither posted their answers by press time.