Mayor’s budget comments off base, Council members say

Key City Council members Friday criticized Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s recent questioning of their approach to balancing the budget, calling the mayor’s recent comments an "exercise in distortion and a disservice to the public."

Caldwell stood by his statements, saying he felt duty-bound to highlight "certain problem areas."

The rift first surfaced Wednesday when Caldwell held a news conference saying that the Council’s proposed $2 billion city operating budget, which includes $14 million for nonprofit groups, was "fiscally irresponsible" and was balanced through a combination of debt and money grabs that could risk the city’s high bond rating.

In a news release Friday, Council Chairman Ernie Martin and Budget Chairwoman Ann Koba­ya­shi noted the highly complex nature of the budget process.

"To take three or four items out of the budget and overstate their impacts is an exercise in distortion and a disservice to the public," they said.

"The latest media display orchestrated by the mayor highlights a basic disagreement with the Council over fiscal policy and governance, but hardly rises to the level of public dismay," they added.

The budget includes about $14 million for nonprofit groups — about $8 million more than required by charter. Caldwell said he was appealing to Council members to scale back the amount for what he called "special-interest grants."

"We need that $8 million for core services, like restoring bus routes, repairing park facilities and repaving roads," Caldwell said in a statement Friday.

He said the city has issued a request for groups to apply for available Grant in Aid money — about $5.5 million set aside by the charter — through the GIA fund, which would involve vetting by a seven-member committee that would make recommendations on grants to approve.

The Council, which is scheduled to take a final vote Wednesday on the budget, has instead included the proposed grants as part of the budget, leaving it to the administration’s discretion whether to release funds.