Adopted 2008 Budget

The Council has adopted the 2008 budget. Among the most interesting last-minute amendments were the following:

- An unsuccessful attempt by CM Remington to take $300,000 from the police overtime budget to hire two more cops (which I was sympathetic towards but did not vote to support)

- An unsuccesful attempt by CM Samuels to take $10,000 from the highly successful Energy Challenge Micro Grant program for non-germane bike lanes on the northside (which I strongly opposed)

- A successful, convoluted motion to undo the Mayor's recommended $100,000 cut to the Minnesota Telecommunications Network (MTN) by funding Wireless Portals (to whom the Mayor had given MTN's $100K) from the self-insurance fund, which itself will be funded from the Minnesota Airports Commission settlement agreement (which I strongly supported - MTN should not take this sort of massive hit to its meager budget)

- A successful motion to keep the City's community engagement positions in CPED rather than transferring them to the Coordinator's office (which I opposed - I believe we should create an team within the more overarching Coordinators office to help facilitate better civic involvement and help improve this work in all departments)

- A successful motion to move three-quarters ($750,000) of the Mayor's proposed water fountain capital project back into the general water fund (which I supported)

- A successful motion by CM Schiff to move $319,000 from general Park Board capital funding to the East Phillips Cultural and Community Center (which I supported)