City-County Council Live Blog - Mayor Greg Ballard’s Budget Presentation
You can find the agenda posted HERE. A live feed of the Council Proceedings is posted HERE.
I’m not going to try to give a live transcript of the speech, but Hoosier Access Radio will have a podcast of the speech posted soon.
18:53 - A who’s who of City government is present. None of which were “forced” to be here unlike 2007. Several GOP councilors are in the Council Chamber.
19:03 - Prayer and Pledge given by Mary Moriarity Adams, the voting machine is broken. President Cockrum announces votes will be given by show of hands.
19:05 - Introduction of Guests. Mayor Greg Ballard is introduced by Councilor Bob Lutz
<More Below The Fold>
19:09 - Official Communications - The Mayor is about to introduce the budget of the City of Indianapolis.
This is a Balanced Budget
This is a Transparent Budget
There are millions of dollars cut from this budget.
$30 million from the state takeover of 1977 pensions, $8 million in administrative savings, $5 million just be paying bills on time.
The City plans to purchase hybrids, and will do more proactive street maintenance to prevent chuckholes in the future.
$1 million for the Arts. “We cannot eliminate the arts”
In this budget we have consolidated the township assessors into the County assessor. This will save $3 million. Mayor Ballard encourages everyone to vote “YES” on the referendum.
The cold hard truth - “We cannot continue to operate like we have”
“We will spend less this year than last year - and that is a rarity in government”
The Mayor made his remarks short and sweet. The Council President has called a recess.
There really isn’t anything of substance left on the Agenda, so you can catch the live feed linked above.
I’m heading out to get the audio cleaned up.
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