Council President Maren Deweese sent to the Pensacola City Council her own memo on how she wants the remaining FY 2012 budget process to be conducted, which conflicted with the mayor’s memo to council (see Hayward’s FY 2012 Budget Memo).
Deweese’s memo was also sent out August 18, same afternoon as the mayor’s. She asked the council members to send all their requests for clarification and line-item adjustments regarding the budget to Elaine Mager, the council’s administrative assistant, by Friday, August 19 (roughly within 24 hours).
They would then be compiled and sent to Dick Barker, City Finance Director, and Mayor Hayward.
Deweese instructed the council that they have two options:
1. “Include the proposed line item changes in your request as well as corresponding line item adjustments within the budget to offset the requested line item changes.”
or
2. Schedule a meeting with Mayor Hayward and/or his staff to discuss options for line-item changes.
Mayor Hayward has made it clear that the budget stands as presented. No line-item changes will be discussed or reviewed by his office without full support of the city council (five votes) and unless they are balanced.
His staff will help with any inquiry sheets and try to clarify the budget for the council. Mayor Hayward asked that all inquiry sheets be sent to Barker by Monday, August 22. He instructed staff to fulfill all reasonable information requests.
There will be no meetings with the mayor on budget changes from individual council members. He will only consider budget amendments that are balanced and have at least five votes on the council.
There is no option 2. The Council President doesn’t dictate the Mayor’s budget policy.
Read: Deweese memo.
It will be interesting to see which memo the city council follows….and what amendments will be proposed.