I have 42 pages of notes . . . and not enough time for all the details right now, but here’s the cliff note version until I finish all my budget blogs in the next few days.
Ok, so here is what happened, minus the mayor’s testimony on several items, Thuy’s empassioned plea for a housing policy, some pointed words about the mayor’s personnel management, some navel gazing and several other moments too good not to blog . . . it’s just going to take a while . . .
Amendment One – Community Services got $50,000 for the category of Access to Services.
Amendment Two – The Mayor got to keep $25,000 to go for the Congress for New Urbanism Conference he is supporting.
Amendment Three – The Affordable Housing Trust Fund was not dissolved.
Amendment Four – The Inclusionary Zoning Fund was dissolved, foreclosing on the concept of ever buying back the 30 affordable units that did get created and opening the door for lawsuits, I’m sure.
Amendment Five – The Capital Revolving Fund did not get dissolved.
Amendment Six – Police got anotehr .25 position for an Information Specialist
Amendment Seven – The Council policy analyst will start in July, not December.
Amendment Eight – The proposal for council healthcare and pensions was withdrawn
Amendment Nine – The clerks office got more money for upcoming elections.
Amendment Ten – The attempt to save city channel position was denied.
Amendment Eleven – The ice rinks were approved with the Mayor’s blessing after he killed them at Board of Estimates
Amendment Twelve – They eliminated a meter reader because the new meter system will eliminate the need for that position.
Amendment Thirteen – A guy who worked for the city for 27 years and is a nationally recognized expert in biking issues was tossed aside for a new position in what looks like a restructuring to get rid of him so the Mayor can hand pick one of his buddies for the new job to elevate biking issues in the city. Those lobbyists are really getting their money’s worth out of that bike ride in Europe.
Amendment Fourteen – More money for planning grants, and neighborhoods won’t have to fundraise to match the city funds.
Amendment Fifteen – The interns in the planning department were saved.
Amendment Sixteen – The arts money was saved.
Amendment Seventeen – Despite the Mayor being agaisnt having a small business coordinator in the Office of Business Resources, the council passed it.
Amendment Eighteen – There was an attempt to make two part time positions into a full time position which is what the City Channel manager wanted, but the unions didn’t . . .so it didn’t happen.
And in the end, they will have general obligation borrowing of $140,384,052. The operating budget will be $179,491,252 with a mil rate of 8.4371 or $2035.17 on the average home. That will cost tax payers an addition $98.42 or 5.08%. Over 90% of that increase was in the Mayor’s budget and the council, once again, just tinkered around the edges.
More details to come . . . .
Your characterization of Amendment 18 is simply wrong and is straight out of the mouth of Alder Compton. AFSCME Local 60 did support maintaining the Assistant Programming Coordinator position, but their lobbying for it was borderline counterproductive, given that many of the details presented in their testimony were wrong and the testimony was at best unorganized. Local 60 did no favors for the incumbent in the APC position. By contrast, the incumbent’s testimony was compelling and emphasized a number of reasons that the positions should not be combined, as were expounded upon by questions from Alders Rhodes-Conway and Verveer in questioning.
The main issue is that the amendment was crafted as thinly-veiled protectionism for the incumbent comp group 18 employee with justifications for the position being invented out of whole cloth. Given that both employees work in the same office at present, arguments for efficiencies in a combined position are overstated, and given how often no staff are present at City Channel until late morning in the current paradigm, arguments of needing phone backup support on a full-time basis are unconvincing.
It is very unfortunate that a human being and families are affected, just as is the case with Amendment 10, but the job duties are simply better accomplished by separate positions given that the tasks of the Assistant Programming Coordinator (predominantly graphic design for the Community Bulletin Board) and the proposed Programming Technician (media management and scheduling) are generally not skill sets possessed by a single individual, meaning that filling the position 5 or 10 years down the road, if necessary, would be substantially more difficult.
Actually, that was my assessment of how people voted, pro-union folks voted with the unions that didn’t want to lose a represented position. And, besides the three people who are incumbents and can do that job, I know at least two more not in city employment that would be well qualified. I don’t think the skill sets are that different if you work with video, you work with graphics. I’m not buying the separate skill sets arguments. As for all the other politics surrounding this one . . . I’m completely lost . . . .
I’m merely curious…who are you, “Harry Kleinfeld”?
News Flash:
“Reckless Trolley Driver Hits City Ped/Bike Coordinator From Behind: Bike Box No Protection From Being Thrown Under the Bus.”