Columbus Council finalizes FY2017 budget

Columbus Council finalized the city’s fiscal 2017 budget by cutting proposed funding to the Columbus Aquatic Center to a level that will sharply curtail hours of operation.

Mayor Teresa Tomlinson had proposed $1.27 million for the aquatic center, which would operate it at the full 89 hours swimmers have had since the facility opened. But council balked at some of the sources for the funding and eliminated them from the budget during the drop-add list session that wraps up the budget negotiations.

With the cuts, the facility’s budget will be about $990,000. In earlier reports to council, Parks and Recreation Director James Worsley has said that the current level of funding, about $850,000, would only keep it open for 45 hours a week. He also said that it would cost more than $1 million to open for 56 hours, so the new reality will likely be somewhere in between those two, City Manager Isaiah Hugley told councilors.

“Of course, we’ll start scaling back,” Hugley said. “I just want to remind you of where we will be. At $580,000, it was 45 hours, so at $990,000, it will add some hours, but it won’t be substantial.”

Tuesday’s budget session also included an often contentious session concerning the proposed budget for the sheriff’s office.

Some councilors chided the administration for the disparity between her proposed budget and the budget request submitted by Sheriff John Darr. Tomlinson and Hugley said they were not able to work with the sheriff on the budget because he submitted his request two months late, just as the budget preparation process was wrapping up.

Darr specifically mentioned several areas where he believes the proposed budget short-changes his ability to carry out his duties. Those include some medical areas, overtime pay, funding for bailiffs and prescription drugs.

In total, Darr’s request for $29.3 million was $1.7 million more than Tomlinson’s proposed budget of $27.57 million.

After some tense and occasionally loud discussion, Councilor Evelyn Turner Pugh added $1.2 million for Darr’s budget to the add-delete list, but offered no way to fund it. Later, after Hugley and Tomlinson warned that taking the money from the city’s reserves would take it significantly below the 60-day level where the city’s bond rating could suffer, councilors voted not to add it to the budget.

Earlier, Marshal Greg Countryman had presented his budget request and asked for about $77,000 in additions to his $1.073 million budget. Councilor Bruce Huff added the items to the add-delete list, but they too died for lack of support in the end.

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 7:12 PM with the headline "Columbus Council finalizes FY2017 budget."