City Council Notes: August 11, 2009
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009Council struggles with a grim financial reality.
On the Committee of the Whole (COW) agenda was a presentation of the completed city financial audit for the fiscal year ending December 2008. John Wysocki, City Finance Director, gave us the bad news as gently as he could for 2009’s budget outlook. Red ink; lots of it.
Here is the link to the audit report on the city’s web site: http://www.berwyn-il.gov/pdf/Finance/2008_CAFR-Final.pdf. A big thank you goes out to Sabine Krauss for tracking it down. If you only read the Management’s Discussion and Analysis section (p.9-p.23) you will come away with a better grasp of the city’s revenues and expenditures.
Mr. Wysocki warned that the city faces a budget shortfall of 2.5 million dollars in fiscal year 2009. Berwyn Life reporter Danya Hooker gives a fair explanation of the issue in her August 12, 2009 article. You can read it at: http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/berwyn/archive/x1886160335/Berwyns-budget-is-anything-but
I am still slogging through the audit report and accompanying Management Letter from Sikich,LLP the firm that conducted the audit. A nagging question is why the Berwyn Fire Department was over budget by more than a quarter of a Million Dollars (Audit Report, p. 94). Browse further and you see that the police department was $265,331 under budget thereby saving the day and bringing the Public Safety expenses under budget for 2008 by $5,573. Congrats Chief Kushner and the Berwyn Police Department.
There is a lot to discuss with regard to the city’s 2009 budget. Too much for this issue. I’ll send out an additional e-blast soon to tell you how the Lovero administration will close the budget deficit…or not (sorry Ald. Weiner, had to do it LOL)
Sergeant Skryd publicly promoted.
The Skryd saga is over in Berwyn. Sergeant Skryd received a handshake and applause as his promotion was recognized during the City Council meeting. At a prior council meeting, I voted against promoting him.
Earlier in the day, I joined former Ald. Mark Weiner and others at the Police and Fire Commission meeting. The commissioners were going to ratify a prior decision they had made to confirm Sgt. Skryd’s promotion. The commissioners had apparently discussed the promotion during a “teleconference” held on July 20th.
Three Commissioners, representatives from the Berwyn Police and Fire Departments and unions comprise the board. On behalf of 3rd Ward residents, I asked that the commission make sure that this situation never occurs again. I also asked how the three commissioners could conduct a teleconference on July 20th without violating the Illinois Open Meetings Act.
A lively discussion ensued. Ald. Skryd arrived at some point during our discussion to photograph us….for a scrap book, no doubt. I came away with a better understanding of the promotion process, a belief that the three commissioners (all upstanding gentlemen in our community) would not knowingly violate a state law, and one unanswered question: If Sergeant Skryd met all the criteria for promotion without the bogus sheepskin, then why did he file a law suit and labor grievances to be allowed to use them? There are some questions we just have to leave unanswered.
Also on the 8/11 Agenda:
- Congratulations to 3rd Ward resident Susan Greenberg for her appointment to the Community Relations Committee. She will be a great asset to that group. Now, if the new director would just call a meeting…..
- Payroll was $852,538.72, Expenses paid were $3,099,136.58
- Chief Kushner’s request to hire 3 patrol officers to fill vacancies on the force was approved.