A Madison City Council member accused Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and his staff of neglecting to implement several important items in the 2007 budget Monday.
Ald. Brenda Konkel, District 2, brought to the city's attention five specific items the City Council approved in the budget last year that were apparently overlooked by city staff. Among the neglected items were $63,000 for paid sick days to city employees, $300,000 for the Tax Incremental Financing (TIF), $50,000 for neighborhood planning grants and funding to hire a new neighborhood planner.
The council also required a study and report to help with the reorganization of the Department of Planning and Development that was to be delivered to the council by mid-October; however, no study has been conducted and no report provided.
"We make decisions, we authorize money to be spent, and then the projects that are important to the community don't get implemented," Konkel said.
While Konkel was the one to bring these items to the city's attention, the situation has other City Council members concerned as well.
"Once we establish a policy, that should be implemented. That's my concern," Ald. Paul Skidmore, District 9, said. "There has to be accountability, and I agree with [Konkel] 100 percent on that."
City Council President Mike Verveer, District 4, said he agrees there have been mistakes made that should not happen again.
"There's no denying that each of those various issues identified have been violated," Verveer said. "I think we can do better."
However, George Twigg, the mayor's communication director, said City Council members should not be surprised that a few items from last year's budget could not be implemented.
"Just because [the city] authorizes it doesn't mean we're automatically going to spend every single dollar," Twigg said. "In most cases we do so, but it's not uncommon that some things, for one reason or another, don't get done in a given year."
Twigg said there are various reasons the five items were not implemented that are all legitimate.
"TIF is a program that sets aside a certain amount of funding for certain housing projects, but there were no projects brought forward to the program," Twigg said.
The reason the neighborhood grants were never given, Twigg said, was mostly because of a lack of adequate resources for oversight of the projects.
"The staff had told us that there were only so many projects they could manage with the resources they had," Twigg said. "There's a reasonable explanation in each case, and for Ald. Konkel to say that the budget process is broken or compromised is simply not true."
Konkel, however, has decided action must be taken to prevent the situation from happening again, and she plans to introduce a resolution that would require quarterly budget updates to the City Council from the staff.
"The budget is one of the biggest things we do all year, and we think that we're making policy," Konkel said. "If there's going to be any sort of integrity in that process, we need to find a way to keep that accountable."
Both Verveer and Skidmore said they would support Konkel's proposal, and Verveer added he thinks the majority of the City Council will agree as well.
"I think it'll only be controversial if the staff raises an objection that they don't have the time to do it," Verveer said.
Twigg, however, said the mayor is concerned about the workload this would create for city staff.
Nonetheless, Konkel said she will introduce the resolution to the City Council at its meeting tonight. Discussion and a vote on the proposal, however, will not occur until a later meeting.
