Council chair postpones budget vote amid severe weather; treasurer outlines $75 million plan

The council chair announced at the start of a statutory budget hearing that the meeting’s planned vote would be postponed because of severe weather and safety concerns, and said the panel would reconvene tomorrow at 5:30 to continue the budget process.

Treasurer Lance presented the budget highlights before the recess. "The proposed budget total expenditures citywide are going to come in right about 75 million this year, which is about 3 million less than last year," Lance said. He reported the general fund expenditure at $25,748,000, transfers out of the general fund at about $14 million, and "we're going to have a budget surplus of approximately $51,000."

A council member asked whether the payroll figures included benefits. Lance responded that health benefits were not included in the payroll figure, but that it did include "pension, salaries, and overtime, Medicare, and social security."

The chair said no members of the public were present for questions and explained the plan to take a roll call at 5:30 and then move to recess the meeting until the next night. "This is the first time since this council's been in office that we've recessed a meeting," the chair said, and added that the agenda would remain unchanged when the hearing resumes.

The council concluded the hearing and planned to reconvene in 25 minutes for a roll call and the formal recess. The budget vote was postponed; no vote on the budget took place during the session recorded in the transcript.