Cairo mayor says he may veto items in new city budget

~ Paul Farris' statement after the budget was passed caused an uproar among council members.

CAIRO, Ill. -- The Cairo City Council Tuesday night approved a $2 million budget that is still $400,000 from being balanced.

Mayor Paul Farris, long at odds with the council, declined to sign off on the appropriation until he has had a chance to review the document. After the council passed the ordinance Tuesday, Farris said he would spend the next few days examining each spending item. He informed the council that the mayor has the power to approve or disapprove any particular line item.

Farris' statement caused an uproar among council members. Councilman Joseph Thurston suggested Cairo was a dictatorship and called the mayor "Saddam."

After the meeting, city attorney Patrick Cox said the mayor does have line-item veto power under state statute. Any appropriation or expenditure item in the ordinance approved by the mayor would be enacted and any item disapproved must be presented back to council within five days accompanied by a written explanation of the mayor's objections, he said.

The line-item veto power is included in a state law that Farris has used previously to veto other council actions. The council has strenuously objected to his vetoes because they contend the city is organized under laws that deny the mayor such power. The law allowing the veto includes provisions for overriding such acts, but the council has not used it because they say it would validate Farris' belief that he has veto power.

"We will carefully examine this document that they've prepared," Farris said, adding any numbers in the ordinance that were inaccurate would be disapproved.

After the meeting, the mayor stopped short of saying he would approve line items for services such as police and fire, but said, "those departments will continue to run."

During last week's meeting, Farris proposed a $2.2 million budget with a $600,000 shortfall. He said it was the council's responsibility to propose cuts that would close the gap.

On Tuesday, Councilwoman Linda Jackson presented the ordinance with "tweaks" to help balance the budget. "When you've got a difference of $600,000, you've got to cut back," she said.

The appropriation cut more than $200,000 from last week's proposal, including $26,000 from police and $43,000 in legal fees.

After the meeting, Jackson said some cuts targeted salaries for rookie police officers who would otherwise be paid as much as veteran officers.

The ordinance passed 5-0 with Councilwoman Carolyn Ponting abstaining. She said she didn't vote because she had just received the ordinance.

Tuesday's meeting was the first time the spending plan was presented in ordinance form. Attorney Cox said council members had failed in their duty by not presenting the proposed budget in that form earlier.

A public hearing was conducted last week in a packed council chamber. But that hearing, he said, addressed budgets proposed by Farris for various departments, not a formal appropriation ordinance.

"Today's the first time that ordinance was brought before the people, and the people did not have a sufficient opportunity to discuss each item on the ordinance," he said.

Jackson disagreed, saying state law allows council members to make changes to the proposal presented to the public last week before taking action.

Under state law, the city is required to pass its budget by Monday. If approved, the budget would be the first passed by the deadline in Farris' tenure as mayor.

The council's long-running standoff with the mayor over approving minutes, payroll and bill payments continued, but they approved several other items.

Council members agreed to open a bank account to receive a $100,000 state grant for road and sewer repairs.

At the meeting, the council approved the renting of city land to M&J Painting Company Inc. for storage space. The land, rented out for $1,000 a month, would be used to store equipment for the company charged with painting the Cairo bridge. According to a company representative, the M&J had a two-year contract for the project.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127