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BY CAROL ARNETT

The Florissant City Council held a public hearing on the proposed 2008 budget at the council meeting Monday night and parts of it was challenged by a group seeking a city audit.

Mayor Robert Lowery submitted the budget to the council at the last council meeting. The council held the public hearing and will now hold budget work sessions to discuss and possibly change the budget before voting to approve it. The city’s fiscal year runs from Dec. 1 to Nov. 30.

The first budget work session is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 20 at 8 a.m. in the government building across from city hall.

The city has been in the news lately after a Channel 5 news report outlined a group of residents’ petition drive to force a state audit of the city. Ten percent of voters who voted in the last gubernatorial election must sign for the state to audit the city. The city would have to pay for the audit, which typically costs approximately $15,000 – $20,000. Former councilwoman Nancy Lubiewski is affiliated with the group.

Podleski, speaking at Monday’s public hearing, asked: “How can you call the budget balanced when almost $1 million is taken out of the rainy day fund?”

Podleski also questioned spending on the nature lodge at Sunset Park. He said that the city paid $87,000 for it in last year’s budget, and is budgeting $50,000 for it in the 2008 budget.

Podleski also questioned raises proposed for golf course personnel. “The golf course shows a decrease of $200,000 and the manager gets a 14% raise.” He also asked why the public hearing was held before the council met to work on the budget.

City Finance Director Randy McDaniel said that the use of reserves in the budget was a very common practice, especially in government accounting. “The budget is prepared with generally accepted accounting principles,” McDaniel said.

City Attorney John Hessel said the budget process has been the same for several years, with the public hearing held before the council work session. “The mayor submits the budget, the citizens comment, now the council’s job is to get into work sessions and work out a budget,” Hessel said.

Councilman Tim Lee noted the drawback of having the council work sessions before the public hearing. “If we worked on the budget, then heard from citizens, we would be criticized for not listening to citizens until it was a done deal,” he said.

Lee said that the budget was balanced. The city uses reserves, and then replenishes them at the end of the year. “We make a conservative estimate of income, and a realistic estimate of expenditures,” he said. If the income ends up being higher than projected, the money is put back in reserves.

Councilwoman Karen McKay urged the public to attend the budget work sessions. “Educate yourselves,” she urged. She said that she attended the budget meetings before she was elected to the council and found them very enlightening.

“As usual, it’s mis-information that been presented to the public,” Lowery said. “This administration will be returning money from 2007 to the reserves. ” Lowery said that police officers will receive a substantial raise. The proposed budget calls for a 4% raise.

Lowery also objected to the questions about the golf course. He said that the golf course would get a raise under the proposed budget. “When you start with $30,000, 14% is not that much,” he said. He also said that he did not understand why people expected the golf course to make money. “We lose money on every service we provide,” he said, noting that the aquatic center and Bangert pool lose money every year. “We are in the business of providing services,” he said, not making money.
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