Pick of the day: Late-night budget action


There’s a lot on the agenda for tonight’s City Council meeting (see related story), which is to be expected when there’s a three-week gap between meetings and when your humble editor is on vacation (things always go crazy at the office when you’re away). But the biggest issue has to be the budget for 2005-06, a fiscal year that starts Friday. Based on the agenda, we don’t expect the council to take up the spending and taxing plan until some time between 9 and 10 p.m., and it’s anyone’s guess as to how much more council members want to debate the plan, which was still up in the air at Wednesday’s finance committee meeting. And tonight might not be the end: City Manager Eric Williams included a note in the agenda that a mere majority won’t be enough to pass the budget ordinance on first reading.