The Gadsden City Council will vote Sept. 26 on “Gadsden F.I.R.S.T.,” the Fiscal Year 2024 budget offered by Mayor Craig Ford’s administration.
An effort to have it immediately considered in Tuesday’s council meeting was withdrawn after an abstention by one member raised questions over whether the measure received the unanimous consent it needed to proceed.
A public hearing on the $60.18 million budget, which was presented to the council on Sept. 12, was held during the meeting and drew only one speaker: former council member Robert Avery, who sought clarification on a couple of points, one relating to the status of American Rescue Plan funds.
Council member Dixie Minatra then moved to suspend the rules and consider the budget immediately, instead of a week after the public hearing, which is the normal process.
Minatra had expressed concern during a council Finance Committee meeting on Monday about ensuring that city employees in line for more than $2 million in pay increases in the budget receive that money in a timely fashion.
Five of the six council members present voted to suspend the rules, but Larry Avery abstained.
That led to a lengthy discussion, and a half-hour or so recess of the meeting, to determine whether the motion actually received the required unanimous consent with Avery’s abstention.
Minatra withdrew her motion following the recess, noting the continued discussion about the budget.
Brett Johnson, Ford’s chief of staff, said a motion to pass the budget could’ve been brought, according to City Attorney Lee Roberts, because under parliamentary procedure Larry Avery’s abstention didn’t count as opposition to suspending the rules, but the decision was made to move on to keep the process transparent.
Larry Avery, who chairs the Finance Committee, stressed afterward that he didn’t cast a “no” vote and expects the budget to “pass with flying colors next week.”
However, he said, “I just still have ‘unreadiness’ as it relates to the budget. I still have questions that have not been answered completely. And that’s not a bad thing. It’s just that at the end of the day, my main job is the financial responsibility of the city (and to) the taxpayers.”
City officials said during Monday’s committee meeting that in an “expedited timeline,” if the budget takes effect Oct. 1, it would likely be Oct. 20 before city employees see raises on their paychecks.
There are massive changes to job classifications, pay scales and salary steps in the new budget, so it’s going to be a more detailed, difficult and time-consuming process than just applying an across-the-board percentage increase.
Reinforcements have been called in to help with entering that information into the payroll system, but officials said they could only go so far until the budget is actually approved. They say it now could be November before the raises are reflected and there could be delays in instituting programs in the budget.
“I am disappointed in Councilman Avery’s actions, mostly because it was for no good reason and will gain nothing for him or the city," Ford said in a statement Tuesday night. “The rest of the council showed up today ready to do their jobs, but abstaining is like not being there at all.
“After all the work sessions, committee meetings, and presentations we’ve had, the only person to speak at today’s public hearing was his uncle,” he said. “That tells you just how many ‘questions’ there really are and exactly which ‘constituent’ really has them.
“The constituents I hear from every day are ready to see a cleaner, safer and prosperous Gadsden," he said. “They don’t want to hear about Finance Committees or parliamentary procedure. They want to see trucks rolling on their streets, and it takes budgetary resources to make that happen.“
Larry Avery said he has “nothing personal against any particular group,” and noted that “the employees are going to get their money.”
City officials indicated at the Finance Committee meeting that employees will receive the extra money they’re due from the start of the fiscal year even if it’s delayed in appearing on their paychecks.
Larry Avery criticized what he thought was a late presentation of the budget. “It is unprecedented, in my opinion, for a council whose primary job is financing the budget to get a proposed budget within a week or two (of the start of the fiscal year), and this being our part-time job to look at that and study it and be ready to act and respond,” he said.
Council President Kent Back pointed out during Monday’s committee meeting that the public hearing one week/budget vote the following week is normal procedure.
He said the administration was making “your problem our problem,” adding, “You put this like ‘we’ve got to get it done,’ and it makes it look like the seven of us are holding it up and there’s a delay, but in fact y’all should’ve started sooner.”
After Johnson pointed out that work on the budget started in February, Back said, “Maybe starting sooner was the wrong phrase, but we should’ve gotten it (budget) sooner than we are.”
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Gadsden City Council to consider new budget next week
