City Unable to Pay roughly $2M in Expenses

Business Administrator Arch Liston said he will be calling the state on Thursday, to ask how he is supposed to pay for roughly $2 million in operating costs after the money wasn't moved around within the budget during Wednesday night's council meeting. 

During Wednesday night's meeting, the transfer of funds failed in a 5-4 vote. Six votes are needed to move line items, which would have meant that at least one member of the minority council had to vote "yes."

After the meeting, seemingly frustrated by the course of events, Liston implied that the worst case scenario would be a state take over of the city's finances.

If the council doesn't allow line item transfers—which means that the money that is already in the budget is moved to another line so it can be used for something else—Liston said, "I can't operate my budget."

Members of the minority council said they didn't have all the information they needed to approve the transfer. Councilman Michael Russo spent some time during the meeting, asking Liston about the different line items. One of the questions was what would happen to next year's budget, which is already scheduled to have

Next year's budget, Liston said, is going to be "tight."

"What happens now?" Asked Council President Ravi Bhalla after the resolution failed on Wednesday night.

"Nothing good," Corporation Counsel Mark Tabakin answered.