There appears to be some confusion over the city budget process. The mayor doesn’t work for the Pensacola City Council. He isn’t required to change the budgets based on straw polls of the council.
Mayor Hayward has delivered his budget to the Pensacola City Council. If the council wants to change it, then they need to pass motions to amend his budget. The only caveat is that the budget must stay balanced so the amendments must be two-sided….if they increase an expense, then they must add revenue or cut another expense.
Then the mayor has the option to use his line-item veto power to void the change. The Council can then try to override his veto.
The Pensacola City Council doesn’t need any more workshops. It needs special meetings in which they can make amendments and vote on them.
If Sherri Myers doesn’t want ESP to raise its utility rates, then she should make a motion to amend the ESP budget, but she must also keep the ESP budget balanced. All the yelling in the world at the mayor and his staff does no good. She has to take the leadership and see if she has the support of four other council members to stop the rate increase.
If Maren Deweese wants Fire Station #3 added to the Penny for Progress budget, then she needs to make a motion to amend the budget to do so. Deweese also needs to decided what she wants cut to come up with the $1.06 million needed.
If Megan Pratt wants a council attorney and $130K council executive, then she needs to decide where she wants the money to come from.
We keep hearing that the council feels powerless. Myers has repeatedly stated that the council is the governing body of the city. Well start governing, ladies and gentlemen. Make you motion amendments and see if you have the support on the council to make them happen.
The yelling at the mayor needs to stop. The Pensacola City Council has the power to change the budget as presented. Forget the straw polls, present your amendments and see how your fellow council members, the public and the mayor react to them.
