Story posted Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Mayor Hopes For Better Budget Progress
By CRAIG ADAMS Journal & Topics Reporter
After one budget workshop for the city of Park Ridge, Mayor Dave Schmidt seems discontented with the process.
"There was not nearly as much progress as I had hoped," he said of the meeting on Saturday, Jan. 16. "I assume that there will be another meeting soon."
Schmidt said aldermen discussed his proposal for zero-based budgeting, but discussion focused on future, rather than the current, budget. "It seems clear we're not going to be able to utilize a full-fledged zero-based budget scheme for this particular budget," he said. However, he added that the council could still use some of the principals of the theory.
"Identifying those programs that are absolutely necessary and separating those from programs that are not absolutely necessary," he explained.
He said that no proposed numbers were discussed at the meeting, only historical numbers. The Jan. 16 workshop "was more of a philosophical discussion than getting into the details of the budget," Schmidt explained. "At least we had this discussion in the middle of January, unlike years past."
The council usually meets in budget workshops beginning in March, he said.
A few residents spoke at the meeting, including a few who want the city to fund litigation against O'Hare. In an earlier interview, Schmidt stated he does not believe litigation will solve the problem with noise or pollution from the aircraft. He thinks any solution would come from political pressures.
"A couple residents talked about general fiscal responsibility, reducing expenses and not being afraid to increase taxes and fees to match expenses," Schmidt added.
He hopes to continue discussions at future workshops and at upcoming Committee of the Whole meetings. "There's no reason we have to save them all for some Saturday session," he said. "There's obviously much more work that needs to be done and hard decisions that have to be made."
One of those discussions could be to adjust water rates, an item Schmidt asked to be on the Committee of the Whole agenda for Jan. 25. "I see no reason why they need to wait until adopting the budget to fix that mistake," he said.
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