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June 23, 2003

We are in the budget!

Looks like our city-sanctioned dog park is officially in the budget, according to The Grand Rapids Press article, "City cuts budget, still outspends revenue".

Click on the extended entry below to read the full article.

Congratulating themselves for cutting fat and not raising taxes, Grand Rapids city commissioners Tuesday adopted a belt-tightening budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

"I've been around here for 12 years and this is the tightest one we've seen," 1st Ward Commissioner Roy Schmidt said.

The $269 million plan calls for the city to spend nearly $6 million more than it takes in, leaving the city with a $6.1 million general fund balance at the end of the year.

The budget also eliminates or "de-funds" 86 jobs and contemplates a pay freeze that has yet to be negotiated with the unions representing most of the city's 1,881 employees.

Mayor John Logie described the budget as a "living document" and said the commission should be prepared to re-visit it.

During the past six weeks, City Manager Kurt Kimball backed down on several of his original budget-cutting proposals, including a plan to charge special events and parades for half of the city's labor costs and a plan to reduce the fire department's overtime bill by cutting the department's minimum daily staffing levels from 57 firefighters to 53.

Instead, Kimball found the money to fund special events by cutting subsidies to the cemetery fund and raising special events rates in the city's Parking Fund.

A proposal to spend $25,000 to create a new city dog park remained in the budget.

Posted by Gwen at June 23, 2003 12:50 PM

Comments

Cool!

Posted by: Lori at June 23, 2003 06:43 PM