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Regular City Council Meeting <br />July 28 , 2003 <br />Page 4 <br />budget going through it that way. In recent years, they have had the department <br />heads come up and go through their budgets and allowed the City Council to <br />ask questions about their budgets. So, it is basically as much information as the <br />Council asks for or as little as they want. It was the consensus of the City <br />Council to not go through the budget line item by line item. Mayor Fendley <br />asked Councilman Plata and Councilman Weekly if they would like to address <br />issues like payrolls, large items of capital improvements, or expenditures that <br />are over a certain amount. City Manager Malone advised that they can call the <br />Council's attention to submit the changes in line items in a particular <br />department and make notes in advance about that. City Manager Malone <br />advised that the budget will be presented to the Council on August 7, 2003, if <br />everything goes according to plan. The City Manager said if there is a <br />particular item that the Council wanted additional information on, staff can <br />have it ready for them. <br />Mayor Fendley asked the Council if they wanted to wait and see the summary <br />on August 7, 2003, and decide if there is any particular department they would <br />like to look at in more detail. Councilman Bell said it would really be nice if <br />the city would come forward with a balanced budget with no tax increase and, <br />yet, give the Council what they are concerned about like the increase in salaries <br />for personnel, and have it all worked out that way without having to have all <br />these discussions. It was the consensus of the City Council to look at it. City <br />Manager Malone stated that they have been asked to do that and there would <br />be no cost of living increase at all if we presented a budget such as they have <br />suggested. Mayor Fendley said they do need to address that and he felt that <br />this is something that needs to be done because they have gone without a cost <br />of living raise for two years. <br />On a question from Mayor Fendley regarding the amount that has been placed <br />in the budget for an employee raise, City Manager Malone said one suggestion <br />was 5% across the board cost of living increase based on the fact that they had <br />not covered that in two years. City Manager Malone advised that he also <br />calculated it at 3.42 which is the CPI for the past 24-month period. City <br />