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Cieslewicz criticizes some city budget amendments

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Also by Ken Harris:

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SSFC denies student funding once again (November 20, 2007)
Senate hearing on medical marijuana turns emotional (November 15, 2007)
Lawton endorses Clinton for '08 (November 13, 2007)
Cieslewicz criticizes some city budget amendments (November 1, 2007)

by Ken Harris

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Although the current budget proposal passed through the Board of Estimates Monday night with the support of the mayor, it is not without spirited opposition.

The Board of Estimates considered 81 total amendments to the budget proposal Mayor Dave Cieslewicz submitted in October. According to Ald. Mark Clear, District 19, the committee typically has only one or two dozen amendments to consider each year.

George Twigg, the communications director for the mayor, said Cieslewicz is pleased with the draft proposed by the committee. However, according to Twigg, Cieslewicz is disappointed the Fit City program, which fights childhood obesity, did not survive in the current proposal.

Twigg said Cieslewicz especially supports the increase in public safety spending.

“Public safety is his priority this year,” Twigg said.

Twigg said some alders believe community programs best serve public safety while others believe increased law enforcement is most effective.

“The mayor feels like the budget he put forward addresses both,” Twigg said.

Making the new programming possible is the city’s additional $500,000 that it will be receiving from the state. This means the state government will contribute a total of $33.6 million to the $224 million total city budget.

Clear said he was willing to give up some of the proposed 30 new police officers in exchange for increased human services spending, but the compromise proved unnecessary. Instead, the committee decided to utilize the unforeseen funds for both.

“It’s hard to spend too much on public safety,” Clear said. “Clearly public safety is a top priority for many people in the city.”

However, Clear did express misgivings about the increases in spending and how it may affect funds in the future. He said that paying for police officers with one-time money is dangerous because the number of officers is rarely ever reduced.

“If nothing else changes, we’ll face some difficult decisions two years from now,” Clear said.

Ald. Zach Brandon, District 7, said he shares these concerns and does not share in the optimism surrounding the new budget. Brandon said he is disappointed that the City Council, which “used to be honest,” is now “shifting money and hiding money.”

According to Brandon, this budget leaves another council two years from now with a “tremendous fiscal burden.”

“I think it is one of the most irresponsible budgets we’ve ever created,” Brandon said.

As for the taxpayers, according to Twigg, the tax increase for the year will be “pretty comparable” to past increases. The average property tax bill, under the current budget plan, will increase $63, from $1,726 to $1,789 per year.

“The average over the past 15 years in tax increases has been 5.5 percent,” Twigg said. “This year we’re pretty close to that … just slightly over.”

The next step in passing the budget is a public meeting Nov. 13, which could result in a passing vote that night. If necessary, however, meetings will be held Nov. 14 and Nov. 15 as well.

Clear said he would vote to approve the budget as it stands now and is optimistic the budget will be passed within the three days allotted.

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Anonymous (November 1, 2007 @ 3:12pm):

Will Zach Brandon ever stop pandering? I'd pay higher taxes for THAT.

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