There is a public hearing on the proposed budget Monday the 12th at 7:30 at City Hall. If you have something to say, we want to hear it. If nobody shows up (which isn’t uncommon), we’ll proceed using our own discretion. Oh, and for everyone out there that thinks their voice won’t make a difference, you are wrong. Dead wrong.
Case in point: there’s a little road called Foster drive. The City wants to close this road. It was brought to a public hearing so we could get it moving along. Citizens turned out and as a result, the road will stay open for some time to come. If you have an opinion on the budget, you owe it to your City and yourself to turn out and voice it.
March 8, 2007 at 4:59 pm
The budget is currently a work in progress – the public hearing
on March 12th is on the “City Manager’s Proposed Budget”‘.
The council will have at least four more meetings and then the
presentation of the “City Council’s Proposed Budget” on April 9th
and a public hearing on the council budget on April 16th.
The first reading of the final budget is slated for April 23rd.
March 9, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Thanks Andy for keeping citizens informed.
March 10, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Andy,
Good work on the Council. Is the proposed budget published anywhere?
March 10, 2007 at 4:59 pm
http://www.manassascity.org/index.asp?NID=256
March 11, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Andy,
Last year the Counsil voted to accept the Speiden Carper House into the Museum System. I might be mistaken, but promises were made to the Council that this “gift” would never cost the City and the citizens one dime. Yet when I examine the proposed 2008 budget there are proposed expenditures
for $26,820.00 for maintenance and a proposal to hire a part time employee at a yearly cost of $12,640.00. Where are the funds coming from to pay these expenditures? Wasn’t there alledged to be some sort of endowment left to cover these costs? Are the taxpayers now having to pay to keep the Speiden Carper House from falling apart? Who is going to be the part time employee to have the house open for visitors?Can the part time employee at least be a qualified maintenance worker who can work on the upkeep of the house? Wouldn’t the money be better spent on essential services, like police and fire? When the City accepted the “gift” did the Spieden Carper House come off the tax rolls? I guess I’m a little confused. The representations to the Council seemed to be a “no brainer”. All benefit,no down side, but now it seems from the budget, the new “gift” is not what it was represented to be. If the “endowment” is somehow paying for these expenditures, it sure would make me happy!
March 11, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Andy,
I forgot to mention that $2,640.00 of the “PART TIME” employee’s yearly cost will be for “benefits”. What benefits? When I worked three jobs while I was in school, I got no “benefits”. Must be nice to work for the city.
March 11, 2007 at 7:29 pm
Carper house maintenance is paid for by the foundation. The money has to go through the city budget in order to be spent. It’s a bit of an odd duck but we have to do the same thing with any money that is spent by the City, regardless of where it comes from.
March 11, 2007 at 8:08 pm
John Wayne, I agreed with all your points up until you had to bad mouth employees. The ability to find and keep qualified employees has become much harder in the current job market. And yes, I am a relative of a city employee and I hear it is a great place to work. If you are so jealous of city employees for the choic they made, you should have applied to work for the city so you could enjoy the great benefits. However, maybe you are to small minded to be able to work for the City or you are not willing to show up at anytime during an emergeny. While you are home safe in your house, City employees are out working in all kinds of weather doing the job you gripe about them recieving benifits for.
March 12, 2007 at 7:42 am
Dear Sam,
Sorry. I have always found our city employees to be of the highest caliber. Thus, I wasn’t bad mouthing city employees. I’m just suprised that part time help gets benefits. I am relieved that there is some sort of endowment to pay for maintenance. And if the endowment pays for the employee and the benefits, so much the better, because what the City really needs is more zoning inspectors to carry forward Andy’s plan.
March 12, 2007 at 9:56 am
part time help getting benefits….I believe that the “benefits” lilne in the budget includes things like FICA. I’ll ask Pat about it but my recollection is that any payments made on behalf of an employee are included in the benefits line. $2600 isn’t enough to buy much of anything insurance-wise.
It’s kinda strange but all budgeting processes have their odditites.