City budget hearings open' debate and cuts expected - Evansville Courier & Press
EVANSVILLE - Mayor Lloyd Winnecke presented his 2016 budget proposal on Monday to a City Council whose leaders have been leveling full-throated election-year criticism of his handling of city finances. Last year, after several weeks of debate, the City Council cut Winnecke’s proposed budget by about $5 million before approving it 9-0. There will be more cuts and more debate this time around. Winnecke began on Monday by telling the City Council about two big-ticket items that are not his 2016 budget — funding for a new park at the former Roberts Stadium site and for the crime-fighting technology ShotSpotter. Winnecke said he still supports those items, but because of the council’s past opposition and “the state of our revenues,” he left them out of his 2016 proposal. 35 new police vehicles and equipment ($270,000). and new fire department gear and equipment ($630,332) that includes full implementation of a gear-cleaning protocol. Winnecke’s budget plan has $1. 28 million for phase one of a City-County Dispatch Center system upgrade and $1. 18 million for four METS buses, with $945,000 of that cost coming from grants. City Council leaders have bemoaned falling city cash balances, noting that the city general fund showed only $307,000 at the start of this year, compared to $4. 4 million at the start of. Source: www.courierpress.com
