Biel to propose changes to current budget process…
This in via email from the Biel for Toledo City Council campaign:
Terry Biel pushes for real-time city budgeting
Council candidate proposes process to minimize deficit spending
Toledo, OH – Democrat and City Council candidate Terry Biel says the city needs to adopt a process that trims the lag time between city budget shortfalls and budget corrections. Biel will give a statement outside of council chambers on Thursday, July 30, at 1:15 p.m., just prior to the Budget and Finance Committee meeting scheduled at 1:30 p.m. Biel will enter proposed changes into record during the public comment portion of the meeting, and will urge council to act on it.
Council’s Budget and Finance Committee reviews city finances regularly, but the data they receive from the city may be several weeks behind. “Often times, the financial data is a more than a month old by the time it’s presented to Council for review,” Biel says. “The new financial information system being installed right now will help, but there’s still nothing mandating that deficits be corrected in real time.”
According to Biel, the size of required budget cuts is compounded by the lag time between shortfalls and budget adjustments. “Where we could have made painful but necessary cuts immediately, we are now forced to make almost unbearable gashes,” Biel explains. “Even after dozens of police layoffs, closing many public pools, and instituting furloughs, the city is still staring down an $8.6 million deficit.”
Biel’s proposal calls for the annual city revenue projections to be broken down by month, rather than only lump sum projection. In the event that revenue collections are below projections by a certain threshold, Biel’s proposal would mandate that the administration and council pass a revised budget that similarly lowers collection and spending projections for the remainder of the year.
“The most important thing is to put a process in place for the future that accurately brings the city budget in line with revenue as quickly as possible,” Biel adds. “Anything less is fiscally irresponsible.”
WHO: Democrat Terry Biel, candidate for Toledo City Council At-Large
WHAT: Calling for Toledo to adopt a real-time budget process
WHERE: Outside City Council Chambers in One Government Center
WHEN: Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 1:15 p.m.
It wouldn’t happen if we had more people like Tom Waniewski on city council voting against wasteful spending. The council has known of the budget shortfall for months and failed to do the heavy lifting. That would have prevented staring down the $8.6 million deficit.
July 30th, 2009 at 7:46 amPerhaps spending wisely and being fiscally responsible all the time would solve the problem of such ridiculous budget deficits. I will agree that real-time budgeting is a good thing, so the city council knows what the situation is right away rather than a few weeks later. However, I vaguely remember Jim Moody announcing a plan on real-time budgeting not too long ago.
July 30th, 2009 at 9:13 am