Acting mayor to outline plans to trim budget

BAYOU VISTA — The acting mayor said the city faces a deficit and needs to make cuts to its budget to avoid a $30,000 shortfall. He’ll outline his plans for trimming the budget today, and it appears the police department will take a hit.

That deficit came about because the city paid the costs associated with projects to rebuild and repair the city’s infrastructure after Hurricane Ike before reimbursements from the state and federal government were received, Alderman Bobby Rosenquist said.

Rosenquist became acting mayor when Ed Flanaghan resigned amid revelations that he spent money from the city’s emergency fund without council approval to pay for costs of building the city’s new community center.

Rosenquist said he wants to avoid another robbing Peter to pay Paul scenario, so without the actual assistance funds in hand for projects he asked city staffers to find about $30,000 in cuts from this year’s budget.

He took those suggestions and devised his proposal, which will be unveiled tonight.

According to the city’s agenda, Rosenquist’s plan calls for cutting one patrol officer’s slot from full-time to part-time and cutting the police department’s mobile phone budget by $1,400 and trimming the police department’s uniform budget by $400.

The budget proposals also call for cuts to the officer’s retirement funding by the city.

There’s even $400 cut from how much the city and police department spend on flowers, according to the records.

The city also has taken on some added expenses, namely a detailed audit of finances after cost overruns at the community center and the former mayor’s decision to shift money from the emergency fund to cover community center construction before federal reimbursement funds were received.

While no one accused Flanaghan of using the funds for anything other than city business, Rosenquist requested the budget review to account for every dollar spent.

Until then, the city will take the approach that those disaster assistance funds don’t exist until the checks actually arrive, Rosenquist said.

The acting mayor also proposes hiring a grants administrator for about $40,000, according to the agenda posting.

Rosenquist also said he expects the city will have to increase its attorney fees by about $8,000.

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At A Glance

WHAT: Bayou Vista City Council

WHEN: 6:30 p.m. today

WHERE: Bayou Vista Community Center, corner of Neptune and Marlin, in Bayou Vista