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Council asks city manager to find more budget savings

By Howard B. Owens

At the end of a more than three-hour council session, just as members were shuffling paper to prepare to leave, Council President Tim Buckley had a request for City Manager Jason Molino:

"We have a request," Buckley said. "Do you think you could find a way to reduce the budget by another 1 or 2 percent?"

Another council member said, "2 percent," followed by another council member who said, "3 percent."

Buckley said they didn't want to go over the budget line by line, but maybe Molino could squeeze out some more savings.

"If it's possible or doable, we would like to do it," Buckley said.

Molino said he would take a look at the budget, which already calls for a 14.5-percent reduction in property taxes if a plan is approved to move the city to a tote-based, "pay as you throw," trash collection system.

Earlier in the evening the council voted to set a public hearing on the budget for Feb. 11.

Tonight, the council covered several topics:

  • More than a dozen people spoke out on the proposed changes to garbage collection in Batavia, mostly in support of Genesee ARC retaining the contract;
  • Heard a presentation on progress in 2012 by the Batavia Development Corp. from Economic Development Coordinator Julie Pacatte;
  • Heard a presentation from Brian Kemp and Marty McDonald on a proposal from Vibrant Batavia;
  • Discussed Councilwoman Rose Mary Christian's request for council members to support an assault weapons ban;
  • And discussed snow removal from residential sidewalks.

That will be a lot to write about in the morning, but I'll get to each story as soon as possible.

Ricky G. Hale

Why in God's name would Rose Mary want the council to get involved in going against the Constitution of the United States, and against the 2'nd Amendment. This is a highly controversial issue at the State and National level. The City of Batavia sure doesn't need to stick its nose in it ! Even the Sheriffs across the state are against the Governor's new law ( see yesterday's post ).
How would Rose Mary feel if I requested the city council to support a ban against the 1'st or the 19"th Amendments ?

Jan 29, 2013, 8:41am Permalink
Mark Brudz

It's called Grandstanding, of course the multitude of crimes committed in Batavia may have affected her thinking, Remember, this is the woman who asked who was going to pay for all the water during a major fire in the city a few years ago.

Jan 29, 2013, 1:50pm Permalink

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