In sports, the slogan you often hear is “next man up.” For the Danville City Council, you might say that right now its “next ARGUMENT up.” During Tuesday (Oct 6th) evening’s meeting, the Council came to a verbal agreement that any thought about making the treasurer an appointed rather than elected position should now be put to bed. The consensus was, with the outside legal opinion recently obtained stating if would have to be done by referendum, and then that the city might have to take the case to court because of what the consent decree stated when Danville turned to an alderman form of government in the late 80s; the change is simply not worth exploring.
Former Alderwoman Brenda Brown, who had addressed the Council numerous times about keeping the treasurer position elected, sees this as a big victory; just like the government change in the 80s.
AUDIO: I believe in prayer, and I believe that God answers my prayers. He hasn’t failed me yet. A lot of prayer was in this, from the beginning, to change the form of government.
Previously, aldermen and mayoral candidates Tricia Teague and Doug Ahrens had disagreed on this, with Teague wanting to keep the position status quo and Ahrens wanting to explore the appointed option. Now, from different angles, they’re both on the same page. Teague said the outside legal opinion actually came in a bit stronger than she expected; having mentioned both the ‘referendum’ issue and the ‘court’ issue.
AUDIO: (It) basically said both of those things had to happen in order for us to change anything; which is a little more strict than what I had anticipated, but I think it’s the right thing for the citizens of Danville.
For Ahrens, he still believes that maybe someday the change should be made for the city’s protection. But right now, everyone’s quite happy with current treasurer Chris Heeren.
AUDIO: So I don’t think that’s the critical issue right now. We have a treasurer that’s capable; and that can be discussed at some point down the road.
So now it’s time to disagree about how the budget is done. Danville’s new fiscal year begins on the 1st of May. But since the city is required by law to have a new tax levy submitted to the county clerk by the start of the new year, it’s become the norm to have both taken care of in December during Rickey Williams, Jr’s time as mayor. But months ago Ahrens stated he wanted to explore a change. Simply put, why not wait for all or your information to come in, such as sales taxes from the Christmas Shopping season. Then, you can make adjustments in the levy as needed, once the final budget is complete.
AUDIO: While a budget needs to be passed, it doesn’t need to be THE final budget. And, should the administration choose, they could continue those discussions on after that. Sales tax revenue is so important to the city’s budget. Really until Christmas shopping is over, we don’t know……
For Mayor Williams, the answer is “absolutely not.”
AUDIO: A prudent planner takes account for all of their finances together. And the budget and the levy are co-dependent upon one-another. You need to know what you’re doing with the one in order to know how much to ask on the other. So it’s my opinion that they should continue to go simultaneously. That is the responsible and prudent thing to do on behalf of the taxpayers.
Alderwoman Teague’s take on it is somewhat in the middle.
AUDIO: We can put in a number and earmark where the levy dollars go, without having to do the entire budget first. So, it’s definitely opportunity to do things a little bit differently.
The long range schedule on when a tentative budget will come before the council has already been pushed back due to the need to work out the health insurance situation for Danville employees. So for this “next argument up” the simple answer right now is, ‘stay tuned.’
