by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Mayor John Peyton will make his balanced budget presentation to the City Council on July 15. And though still a week away, Council Finance Chair Daniel Davis doesn’t expect it will be anything less than very tight.
The Finance Committee, which bears the burden of reviewing Peyton’s proposed budget before sending it before full Council some time in September, will meet for the first time under Davis’ leadership on July 18.
Citing shortfalls across the board, Peyton has already called for nearly every City department — the City Council included — to trim everything from staff sizes to office expenses.
“It’s going to be tough and we all understand that,” Davis said. “Obviously we are going to use every opportunity to look at all of our available options to identify reoccurring revenue sources and non-reoccurring expenses.
“And there’s no doubt in my mind that through September, it won’t be pretty. We’re looking for fat. And we’re going to find it and cut it from the bone.”
Davis, who met individually with Council President Kevin Hyde and Council auditor Richard Wallace Thursday, said the Finance Committee will “begin in earnest in August.”
“And until then I’m looking forward to getting a better idea of (Hyde’s) vision and what he’d like to see in the budget.”
Having already served a term on the Finance Committee, Davis said he plans to take a practical approach when combing through Peyton’s proposal.
“I’ve talked to (Wallace) about it and that’s one of the things he has recommended,” he said. “I think that, in the end, common sense will prevail on this.”
When asked if a lack of common sense has ever been a problem in the past, Davis would only say that “we’re headed in the right direction.”
Another step in the right direction? Maintaining public safety. Davis, who famously sponsored legislation targeting sexual offenders in May, said that the Council has every intention of protecting the public no matter the cost.
“We will not sacrifice public safety,” he said. “I can promise that.”