With council vote split, mayor approves Pocatello budget appropriation plan
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POCATELLO — With the city council split, Mayor Brian Blad cast the deciding vote to approve the 2022 Pocatello city budget appropriation plan at a council meeting Thursday evening.
Prior to Blad’s vote, the council was split down a familiar line — with Council Chair Heidi Adamson and council members Linda Leeurwik and Rick Cheatum on one side, in support of the budget plan.
On the other side, council members Claudia Ortega, Christine Stevens and Roger Bray voted against it.
The vote came following a warning from the city’s chief financial officer, Jim Krueger, who called the plan unsustainable.
“I would hope that all the people involved with the city of Pocatello — both staff as well as council members — understand that utilizing fund balances as a method to balance budgets is not good, from a strategic perspective,” he said.
The plan draws from two separate reserve fund accounts in order to move records into the black — something Blad has told EastIdahoNews.com in the past is the purpose of those funds.
But Krueger has seen this sort of approach backfire before, forcing cities into tough and drastic expenditure-cutting measures. Throughout the budget planning process, he said, he has cautioned the council that there are only two ways to properly balance a budget — cutting expenditures or increasing revenues.
“I’m not going to suggest how expenditures could decrease,” Krueger said. “I do know one way that revenues could increase — and I’m not advocating that, necessarily — and that would be through property taxes.”
Krueger also emphasized that he cannot make the decisions, only advise the council, which he has done through the months-long process.
Adamson, the first to vote, offered encouragement to her fellow council members.
“Tonight,” she said, “we have an opportunity to show that we are all members of team Pocatello and that we can pass a budget, and that we can work together to the best interest of our community.”
Bray followed, suggesting that his membership of team Pocatello would not allow his “yes” vote.
“I don’t feel like this budget went far enough to protect our staff,” Bray said. “I really think we should have worked harder to make this a long-term budget, rather than a short-term response.”
Ortega questioned the legality of the budget planning process, as she said that Blad removed items approved by council vote without bringing the vote back to a complete council. Blad denied that, saying that the budget proposal was completely legal and exactly what the city council put together as a group.
Following the meeting, along with several members of the audience, Ortega questioned that fact, saying that items motioned for addition to the budget appropriation plan had been removed. An $800,000 commitment to fix the city fuel site — which is corroded and a threat to leak fuel into the city’s water supply — and $153,000 to re-surface the Ross Park pool are among the items in question.
“Setting the budget is the council’s duty, and I do not believe we have filled that duty,” Stevens said before casting her “no” vote. “There are aspects of this budget that I find not in the best interest of Pocatello and our staff.”
The budget appropriation plan was passed though, and now waits to be ratified.
Council to discuss reimplementation of a city-wide mask mandate
Prior to the budget vote, Mayor Brian Blad informed the public that a special council meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 24, in which the council will discuss passing a mask mandate.
“We would absolutely rather not be meeting about masks,” Blad said. “I don’t think anyone on the council really wants to have a discussion on masks. Unfortunately, when we rescinded the ordinance before, the motion was made that if we had 15 cases per 10,000 (residents), then we would have a meeting to discuss if we were going to implement another face covering ordinance.”
Pocatello, like other areas, has seen a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, including cases of the delta variant.
“Just as a reminder, please wear your face masks if you have not been vaccinated,” he concluded.