To the left, please find an image of my news brief on the meeting of the Westminster mayor and Common Council on Monday, September 28, 2009. The news brief appeared in the Carroll Eagle on Sunday, October 4, 2009 on page 3. Oct. 4, 2009 p3 Carroll Eagle Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/kcern Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2009/10/budget-woes-dominate-westminster-mayor.html http://tinyurl.com/ydumjah
http://twitpic.com/kcern Westminster Eagle News Brief: Budget woes dominate Westminster mayor and council meeting http://tinyurl.com/ydumjah
Below, please find the news brief as it was filed. The “long version” of my article on the meeting has not, as yet, been posted on www.explorecarroll.com. Hopefully it will be posted on Monday, October 5, 2009… If not, I’ll post it here on the blog…
Westminster Eagle News Brief: Budget woes dominate Westminster mayor and council meeting
Westminster Eagle – http://www.explorecarroll.com/
September 28, 2009 by Kevin Dayhoff kevindayhoff AT gmail.com
Westminster City Hall - The meeting of the Westminster mayor and Common Council last Monday began with plenty of smiles, but the mood quickly turned somber as a discussion on budget woes dominated the balance of the evening.
Mayor Kevin Utz conducted a public hearing on the 2009 Comprehensive Plan for Westminster. Later in the meeting the council voted to adopt the plan after more discussion of how proud the council and staff were to have received such good feedback from the state on how well the plan was developed and written.
Council president Damian Halstad brought up “Budget Amendment No. 1” for adoption. Utz explained “this reduction in the budget came as a direct result of the governor’s reduction in highway user revenues…”
Other council member joined-in as it was explained that the state Board of Public Works recently voted to not send $818,000 in revenue due the city from taxes collected by the state designated for the city’s coffers – in order to balance the state budget.
A press release describing the budget amendment explained, “The State of Maryland reduced the Highway User Revenues from $747,580 to $74,758 and Police Aid from a budgeted $400,000 to $254,826.”
City administrator Marge Wolf said that she expects the state to withhold an additional $329,000 from the city in January.
According to the press release: “Among the cuts approved by the Common Council were cancellations of the paving contract, technology purchases and a police vehicle which totaled $267,950 in capital expenditures; diversion of the $100,000 contingency reserve to operating accounts…
“… conversion of $215,000 of Union Street property proceeds to operating accounts; reduction of departmental operating budgets by $155,086; revision of the take home vehicle policy to institute a partial employee payback of costs by $15,768; and captured $65,000 in savings from reduced tipping fees.”
Wolf tried to put a bright face on a bleak picture at that by remarking that “this is not the best of times, but it doesn’t mean we don’t have good projects underway.”
As if on cue, Lori Graham, representing the business community, gave a report on the “Midnight Madness,” downtown business celebration held in conjunction with Fallfest. She also gave an update on plans for the upcoming community ‘electric’ Christmas parade.
“The community has its share of problems but we still come together to do good things,” said Graham.
Want to learn more about the recent meeting of the Westminster mayor and council meeting? For a longer version of this story go to http://www.explorecarroll.com/.
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