In light of an expected line of defense from the City Attorney on his opinion concerning Council's unbalanced budget, my office is releasing an audio tape, and video and transcripts that counter the City Attorney's assertions. 

Council's own chief of Staff - who, on June 11 requested the opinion from the City Attorney - remarks on the tape how both of the ordinances - 2008-42 and 2008-89 -are in fact funding sources for the FY2009 budget.

We invite you to review the evidence. You may also read the Mayor's remarks from his June 10 press conference.

Despite its claims to the contrary, City Council clearly did not pass all of the funding sources to be used in the FY2009 Budget until after the May 31 deadline.

In his opinion, the City Attorney notes that the ordinances adopted on June 9 that re-appropriate $2.1 million do not contain language referencing the 2009 budget. But the money had to go somewhere, didn't it?

Council's own budget amendment worksheet - which you can view here - shows that the $2.1 million in funding is directly related to the the two ordinances that were not passed until June 9. 

If the funding does not depend on the ordinance, why is it listed and identified as a funding source by Council staff? Their worksheet ties the ordinances to the funding, and now they have asked the City Attorney to say they are not related! 

It is a simple game of connect the dots that creates a clear picture which shows Council failed to do its homework by not passing the budget in its entirety by May 31, as required.

Now Council is relying on the City Attorney's opinion to bail them out of their self-inflicted predicament, but it is now contradicted on audio, video, and their own working papers.

The 3 minute audio is of poor quality but you can read the one page transcript here.

Furthermore, at the June 9 City Council meeting, this video shows the discussion and adoption of the two ordinances in question where the Council President says "these are budget amendments." Note he does not say the ordinances deal with fund balances or surplus funds, but "budget amendments."

This is an unfortunate situation, but my Administration will act accordingly and move ahead with the implementation of the FY2009 Budget.