There were two items I thought newsworthy from yesterday’s Bay St Louis City Council meeting. From the Slabbed New Media twitter account:
@SLABBEDblog Hahaha and people in Hell need free port’o’potties!
— Editilla the Pun (@Editilla) April 22, 2014
No action was taken. The bigger news:
Councilman Falgout addressing the budget problems, specifically revenues that will not ever be realized. Wants to amend budget now. — Slabbed New Media (@SLABBEDblog) April 22, 2014
Councilman Falgout laid out a compelling case that convinced the others that a more detailed look at the City’s finances was needed:
Councilperson McDonald wants to hold a workshop on budgetary matters. Scheduled for May 6, 2014 3pm
— Slabbed New Media (@SLABBEDblog) April 22, 2014
To the extent the Council is looking at the most current financial data that workshop should be worth attending. I know of no borrowing mechanism the city can legally use between now and September to cover remaining budgeted FY 2013-2014 expenditures thus I think it likely some very hard decisions will be made at some point over the next month or two.
Slabbed took at detailed look at the problem with budgeted revenues in late January of this year for those that want a more detailed understanding of the challenging fiscal issues facing Bay St Louis. Councilman Falgout made a point to say that the Bay is no where near Detroit Michigan territory and that is true. That said the longer the process of right-sizing expenses to revenues takes, the more painful the process becomes.
Agree 100%. Doug, it is great to see the pigeon take flight. If you would allow me the privilege, I would like to time stamp this entry. It may be useful to look back on later.
Certainly Vonzippa time stamp away. It is good to see people are paying attention.
The serious financial issues facing the taxpayers of Bay St. Louis right now are an opportunity for the city leaders (Council and Administration) to finally turn things around. To continue to deny and procrastinate is the worst possible route they can take at this point.
The Council must assume their legal responsibility for the finances of the city regardless of the position the administration takes. They are already whining today about the Council taking advantage of the Mayor having to leave the meeting early and attacking him in his absence. STOP IT. This is too serious.
The Council must present a united front for the sake of the taxpayers, but will they? Doubtful. Some are Mayor puppets, and some are there simply for the monetary benefits of their position. The taxpayers will be very lucky to get a simple majority in favor of seeing that their tax dollars are protected.
There is no turning back at this point.
Set the alarms for May 6th.
I totally agree. It’s totally up to the Council, Les looks good in pictures but he has no idea how to run a city.