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Rooke asks 'Where is the city budget?'

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



SPRINGFIELD City Councilor Timothy Rooke is looking for the city budget to approve and Mayor Domenic Sarno said it's on the way.

Rooke raised questions last week about why the council had not yet received the FY09 budget to approve.

Sarno told Reminder Publications he wants to make sure the Council receives the budget "ASAP."

What is holding up the process is the lack of "concrete numbers" from several key areas, Sarno explained.

"I want to roll it out, rolled out properly," the mayor added.

Sarno expressed an additional concern about the FY10 budget because of possible state cuts in aid that would affect city services. Sarno said he wants the city to maintain the current funding it receives and to do so he has acted in a fiscally conservative manner.

Sarno said he's not interested in "short term political victories for myself" when it comes to making budgeting decisions.

Rooke has been a critic of Sarno's budget process since the mayor eliminated access city councilors traditionally had to the mayor's meetings with department heads to determine funding needs.

In a written statement, Rooke said, "Here is the problem. If we were to receive the budget from the Mayor on Monday May 12, 2008 which I doubt that we will, that would leave us with 14 days to hold public hearings with the 29 city departments. I am guessing that we might receive the budget after the School Committee Meeting is held on Thursday, May 15, 2008 to discuss Schedule 19 and the charges that the City is trying to offset onto the School Department to balance the budget. I am not hopeful with the outcome. If everything was agreed upon at the School Committee meeting we might receive the budget on Monday, May 19, 2008. That would leave nine days less one holiday is now eight days to review a $528.8 million budget. Since we have to post any meeting with a 48 hour notice we are now down to six days. Six days to review a proposed $528.8 million dollar budget?...This is the first year the the City Council has been allowed back into the budget decision making process since the creation of the Finance Control Board. How can you logically expect a serious review in six days when the mayor has had three months?

"I remain hopeful but very disappointed that we have had no role or involvement in the budget to date. Particularly when there was no logical reason to begin with. Now maybe it is obvious in retrospect why we should have been involved from the beginning."