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John Howell, not one question directed at the Council President or the administration regarding input from the public, why? The council actually has rules that state that the monthly council meeting cannot go over a 5 hour time limit, past midnight precisely so that after 5 hours of meetings the level of attention and detail required to conduct business diminishes substantially.

John, Why not ask the question, how could potentially over 15 hours of budget hearings effect the ability of the city council to conduct proper over site and understand of the Mayor's spending plan?

The answer, there is no over site. The budget is rubber stamped by Travis, Wilkinson and the other minors in leadership on the council. The pontification and grand standing at these hearing is nauseating. Who needs to even have a hearing?

The city has had a $3 million structure deficit for the past years and the brilliance of the Council President Travis and Finance Chair Wilkinson didn't see it necessary to hold supplemental budget hearing to balance the budget. Yet, Travis, Wilkinson and Ladouceur actually had the gale to castigate the CFO of the school department for coming in with a fiscal year surplus.

So to recap, city over spends its budget, taps into the rainy day fund, creates a structural deficit, agrees to new contract for all city employees without seeing a fiscal note or the cost, breaks the record for most money spent ever and proclaims that as a prudent fiscal management of the city budget. Schools are level funded for past 7 years, spending at 2008 level, fiscal surplus projected, that is label as budget mismanagement by the so called budget geniuses on the city council.

Just have the Mayor decree the budget and forget about the waste of time know as the budget hearings.