Wait, isn't the guy talking about firing people due to budget cuts taking home a $180,000 salary? Seems like cuts were made that could have been avoided by having reasonable salaries and making council pay their own legal fees for ignoring their own attorney's advice.
Sadly, 13 people will reduce the budget by less than $2 million, given the most generous estimate of salary and benefits. Dedicated funds (sewer, stormwater, etc) that cannot be used elsewhere comprise a significant portion of the budget. This leaves a smaller pool to cut from and the impact on discretionary (quality of life) expenses will be huge. The bumbling actions by this Council make it unlikey voters will trust it with a favorable vote for additional specialized tax revenue. The employees and the public will be paying the price. To quote one member: "Elections have consequences".
The current council majority and their "in over his head" interim city manager will be the ruin of the City of Longview. None of them are qualified to run a city.
We had city finance director Kurt Sacha doing the budgets for at least 30 years, and then city manager Kris Swanson did at least one budget before she was wrongfully terminated by the most incompetent council I’ve seen. Now Sacha and Swanson are gone, and the budget has gone haywire. I see a connection here.
Wait, isn't the guy talking about firing people due to budget cuts taking home a $180,000 salary? Seems like cuts were made that could have been avoided by having reasonable salaries and making council pay their own legal fees for ignoring their own attorney's advice.
Sadly, 13 people will reduce the budget by less than $2 million, given the most generous estimate of salary and benefits. Dedicated funds (sewer, stormwater, etc) that cannot be used elsewhere comprise a significant portion of the budget. This leaves a smaller pool to cut from and the impact on discretionary (quality of life) expenses will be huge. The bumbling actions by this Council make it unlikey voters will trust it with a favorable vote for additional specialized tax revenue. The employees and the public will be paying the price. To quote one member: "Elections have consequences".
The current council majority and their "in over his head" interim city manager will be the ruin of the City of Longview. None of them are qualified to run a city.
We had city finance director Kurt Sacha doing the budgets for at least 30 years, and then city manager Kris Swanson did at least one budget before she was wrongfully terminated by the most incompetent council I’ve seen. Now Sacha and Swanson are gone, and the budget has gone haywire. I see a connection here.