At the close of the first day of a two day budget session (Dec 12 and 13), Mayor Lucas Cleveland moved two motions that would be major changes to the budget setting process and to tax rates. Lucas is concerned with two things: first, when staff are added partway through the coming year, the budget impact is less than a full year so there is a hit in the following years that is not really considered. To fix this, Lucas wants the full year cost added to the budget and any unused amount transferred to a reserve to be used for future staffing needs. This was the subject of a motion he made which passed.  The second concern was more… Read complete articleMayor Cleveland stirs Budget Pot