Vulgar Display of Orange
02-03-2010, 02:06 PM
Tulsa Mayor’s Office not sustaining budget cut (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20100203_11_0_TeMyrs375438)
By BRIAN BARBER World Staff Writer
Published: 2/3/2010**2:43 PM
Last Modified: 2/3/2010**2:45 PM
The Mayor’s Office is not sustaining a budget cut and, in fact, is projected to need an infusion of cash before the end of the fiscal year so it is not over budget, Tulsa’s City Council learned Wednesday.
Budget Director Pat Connelly told councilors during a special meeting that budget amendments incorporating more than $10 million in cuts to the general fund will be brought to them next week.
But it will not include a 4.4 percent reduction for the Mayor’s Office as all other city departments have taken, he said. Such a cut would have decreased the executive office’s annual budget of $1,048,000 by $46,000.
This development comes in spite of Mayor Dewey Bartlett having maintained throughout the process that all city groups would share equally in addressing the city’s budget crisis.
Connelly said the payroll for the current staffing level in the Mayor’s Office will exceed its appropriations. The council soon will have to transfer more money into its budget.
“So it doesn’t make any sense to cut them now when you’re just going to have to go back in and provide some additional dollars,” he said.
The staffing expenses come from a combination of then-Mayor Kathy Taylor’s administration and Bartlett’s new administration, which took over less than two months ago, Connelly said.
Some councilors laughed at the revelation in disbelief.
“Good luck with that,” Councilor Bill Christiansen said of the Mayor’s Office getting any more funding.
“You have to keep in mind, we’ve laid off police officers. At the end of the day, it’s a situation where you say, ‘Follow my lead. Don’t do as I say, do as I do.’”
Councilor Maria Barnes said every one had to take an immediate cut, “so why is this any different? It sounds unfair to me.”
The Mayor’s Office has a payroll of roughly $97,000 per month, and with five months left in the fiscal year, that amounts to nearly $500,000, Connelly said, adding that it has just over $300,000 left in appropriations.
“We’ve identified some dollars from other departments that can help,” he said, noting that Jeff Wilkie, who was a Taylor appointment over the Human Resources Department, is now gone and the remainder of his salary can be used.
“That will help solve part of the problem, and hopefully we can find more savings elsewhere. But it will take council transfers to move that money between departments.”
Connelly was careful not to lay blame with Bartlett, saying that Taylor’s staffing payroll could not be maintained with the appropriations.
Barnes said: “It just doesn’t look good when we can move money around to help pay for the staffing up there, but we couldn’t do it to help people who were losing their jobs.
“If (Mayor Taylor) were sitting here and it was her office, I’d tell her the same thing, ‘You have to cut it today.’”
Bartlett was not immediately available for comment.
Read more in Thursday’s Tulsa World.
By BRIAN BARBER World Staff Writer
**
Didn't see this coming...
By BRIAN BARBER World Staff Writer
Published: 2/3/2010**2:43 PM
Last Modified: 2/3/2010**2:45 PM
The Mayor’s Office is not sustaining a budget cut and, in fact, is projected to need an infusion of cash before the end of the fiscal year so it is not over budget, Tulsa’s City Council learned Wednesday.
Budget Director Pat Connelly told councilors during a special meeting that budget amendments incorporating more than $10 million in cuts to the general fund will be brought to them next week.
But it will not include a 4.4 percent reduction for the Mayor’s Office as all other city departments have taken, he said. Such a cut would have decreased the executive office’s annual budget of $1,048,000 by $46,000.
This development comes in spite of Mayor Dewey Bartlett having maintained throughout the process that all city groups would share equally in addressing the city’s budget crisis.
Connelly said the payroll for the current staffing level in the Mayor’s Office will exceed its appropriations. The council soon will have to transfer more money into its budget.
“So it doesn’t make any sense to cut them now when you’re just going to have to go back in and provide some additional dollars,” he said.
The staffing expenses come from a combination of then-Mayor Kathy Taylor’s administration and Bartlett’s new administration, which took over less than two months ago, Connelly said.
Some councilors laughed at the revelation in disbelief.
“Good luck with that,” Councilor Bill Christiansen said of the Mayor’s Office getting any more funding.
“You have to keep in mind, we’ve laid off police officers. At the end of the day, it’s a situation where you say, ‘Follow my lead. Don’t do as I say, do as I do.’”
Councilor Maria Barnes said every one had to take an immediate cut, “so why is this any different? It sounds unfair to me.”
The Mayor’s Office has a payroll of roughly $97,000 per month, and with five months left in the fiscal year, that amounts to nearly $500,000, Connelly said, adding that it has just over $300,000 left in appropriations.
“We’ve identified some dollars from other departments that can help,” he said, noting that Jeff Wilkie, who was a Taylor appointment over the Human Resources Department, is now gone and the remainder of his salary can be used.
“That will help solve part of the problem, and hopefully we can find more savings elsewhere. But it will take council transfers to move that money between departments.”
Connelly was careful not to lay blame with Bartlett, saying that Taylor’s staffing payroll could not be maintained with the appropriations.
Barnes said: “It just doesn’t look good when we can move money around to help pay for the staffing up there, but we couldn’t do it to help people who were losing their jobs.
“If (Mayor Taylor) were sitting here and it was her office, I’d tell her the same thing, ‘You have to cut it today.’”
Bartlett was not immediately available for comment.
Read more in Thursday’s Tulsa World.
By BRIAN BARBER World Staff Writer
**
Didn't see this coming...