Inter-Semester Update: May 26, 2008
The city of College Park is poised for a last-minute budget battle that threatens a proposed boost in police funding, after once-supportive council members have grown wary of a tax hike because of constituent backlash.
At stake are funding for city services and the city’s plan to double funding for police, which are at odds with an 8 percent increase in city taxes. Although the council had agreed on a budget more than a month ago that veteran council members expected to pass with ease, tomorrow’s meeting promises a lively debate as the council faces a June 1 deadline to formally vote on a budget.
“We have never had anything terribly drastic happen at budget time. We’ve had a few close calls, but I don’t think we ever went into a vote that we weren’t optimistic it would work out,” longtime District 2 Councilman Bob Catlin said at last Tuesday’s meeting. “What I heard tonight makes me less optimistic than any other time in 11 years.”
If the council does not vote on a budget tomorrow, the city will adopt the version proposed by the city staff, which includes the tax hikes and police funding increase but leaves out some smaller changes the council discussed during a Saturday budget session.
The unexpected contention led to a near-shouting match between District 3 Councilman Mark Cook and College Park finance director Steve Groh at last week’s meeting. Cook suggested cutting 5 percent of the funding to each department of the city to make ends meet without a tax hike. Cook did not elaborate on how the cuts could be made, but opponents said it would be unfair because many departments’ proposed budgets grew only enough to account for cost-of-living increases.
As an alternative to Cook’s plan, District 4 Councilwoman Karen Hampton suggested eliminating the extra police funding entirely, which angered Student Government Association President Jonathan Sachs, who said safety is and should be on the forefront of many residents’ minds.
District 4 Councilwoman Mary Cook – of no relation to Mark Cook – said some council members might be out of touch with the concerns of the lower- and fixed-income residents of College Park.
“I do think we have to be cognizant of the fact that some people’s salaries are not like yours,” she told District 1 Councilman Patrick Wojahn, a lawyer. “They are going to be suffering in the next months and years. They’re just barely able to pay their bills every month. How are we going to help those people if we keep the budget the way it is?”
Among the city officials surprised at the latest budget discussions was Mayor Stephen Brayman, who arrived at last week’s meeting just as it was ending and described what had happened in his absence as “amazing” and “irresponsible.” He said if the council had disapproved of the tax hike, it should have been discussed weeks earlier, not days before the deadline for approving the budget.
“I know everyone wanted to get the meetings through quick, but there was no mention of this,” Brayman said.
But several council members said they just recently heard concerns from their constituents, after the council had discussed the tax hike.
“I’m just bringing across what I’m hearing on the street,” Mark Cook said. “Should this have been discussed sooner? Probably. Is it too late? No, because we haven’t voted yet.”
This is the first budget for several council members – Mark Cook, Wojahn and District 1 Councilman Jonathan Molinatto. Previous budget “worksessions” have lasted as long as 20 hours during two Saturday sessions to complete, with council members fighting over details early on and then unanimously passing the budget at the crunch time. This year’s 382-page budget was agreed upon in about seven hours on a single Saturday with minimal debate.
Much of that initial support for the budget is still there despite recent arguments over the tax hike. District 3 Councilwoman Stephanie Stullich said many residents were in favor of the new police spending despite the higher taxes, and she worried they might not have time to speak out against last-minute changes some of her colleagues have proposed.
And some other council members said they didn’t like the idea of cutting funding to other parts of the city budget to help finagle the police funding increase.
“One of the reasons why we here in College Park have nice houses and have good streets in comparison with many other parts of the D.C. metro area is we have a government that provides good quality services,” Wojahn said. “I’m concerned about the direction this is going in terms of cutting services.”
“I’m not sure that everyone in the city can easily afford to pay the increase, but I don’t see how we can not increase and still afford everything we want to do,” Molinatto said. “I hate to be the one to say that this is how it has to be, but it almost seems that this is the way it has to be.”
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