In a stunning turn of events last night, City Council could not complete their duty set forth by the people to agree on and pass a city budget for 2011. This however is not the first time Council has failed to meet their obligation, as just last year Council also was deadlocked, unable to pass a budget without further discussion and negotiation. Now, according to City Charter, the City of Tipp City will be forced to run on emergency funding for the month of January on an amount of funding which accounts for 1/12 of the total planned budget. Any construction projects or initiatives that were planned for January may be forced into later months as the City runs on its emergency funding allocation.
Starts with a Bang
The first Ordinance on the agenda was indeed the ordinance adopting the operating budget for the fiscal and calendar year 2011 as proposed by the City Manager and reviewed by City Council. Councilman Joe Gibson began the evening with a motion to strike the $100,000 budgeted for the re-codification of the City ordinances. Councilman Kessler stated that “We need to get the codes changed to make Tipp more business friendly”, to which Gibson replied, “This is going to be just like the sign code ordinance, lots of lawyers, businessmen and residents that need to be engaged by outside lawyers and consultants, we can put this expense off another year”. Councilman Lovett joined the fray stating “The City did not pick a fight with Dakin (Warrior Racing), or with Betty Peachey (over the awning at Coldwater), the city staff does not have the expertise or the time to manage all of the inconsistencies in the code.” Lovett further entreated council, “It has cost us too much already (losing the lawsuit to Dakin), I have weighed this and we have waited too long (to recodify the City Ordinances).” While councilman Budding seconded the motion to strike the budget line item, he later voted in favor of the budget-busting $100,000 line item expense. The motion failed to pass.
Budding Reveals Tea Party Agenda
In this Special Report, we detail the comments made at last night’s council meeting by councilman Bryan Budding. In short, councilman Budding led with several controversial motions including eliminating funding from several community and civic organizations that provide food for needy seniors and young children.
Downtown Tipp City Partnership
In prior budgetary discussion it was identified that Council would look favorably at pulling back funding for the Downtown Tipp City Partnership to the tune of $5,000. Council leaders took the opportunity last night to break rank on this issue with Councilwoman Black recanting her prior stance “I now want to see the DTCP position fully funded, but we need to make sure there is some accountability to the position, (speaking of Director, Matt Owen) I can’t remember the last time we received a quarterly review of their (DTCP) activities”.
Councilman Bryan Budding had other ideas, “I have nothing against you Matt (Owen), it’s just that this is not a function of government” making a motion to remove all funding for the organization. Councilman Kessler echoed Budding’s sentiment but stayed true to the $5,000 cut in funding, sharing that in his discussions with members of the community, there was no intention for the position to remain fully funded forever by the City. Councilman Lovett shared his thoughts, “The problem that I see with that Mr. Budding is that you are going to kill it (the DTCP) and nobody wants that to happen”. Lovett shared a compromise option for those who voted No to the budget previously, suggesting a funding level of $29,000 stating “there was never any intention to continue this funding ongoing, downtown businesses need to take a greater role in supporting the organization, and they must do a better job at fund raising”.
Black: “I didn’t know what we were voting on”
The budget as submitted included both the $100,000 for the re-codification that Gibson did not like, as well as the cut in funding for the Downtown Tipp City Partnership by $5,000. These two items were important in creating the 3-3 tie, which means the ordinance failed to pass. Councilman Gibson who voted no on the budget as presented made a motion to reconsider, begrudgingly moving to allow the expense of the re-codification, but standing firm on the funding for the DTCP. Councilman Lovett’s compromise deal which suggested funding at $29,000 never made it to the floor as in a stunning move, councilwoman Black failed to approve Gibson’s motion to reconsider, stating “What did I just vote on?”, and following with a motion of reconsideration of her own, “Sorry, I don’t know what we were voting on” shared Black. As votes were tallied on Black’s motion, she again voted down her own motion to reconsider. This surprising turn of events now places the City in an emergency funding situation, according to City Charter. In the event that Council is unable to pass a budget, the City will operate under emergency funding until such time a budget is worked out. Council does not meet again until after the first of the year.
