The budget also fully funds the $633 million request made by the Metro school board, though many council members vehemently opposed the board's plan to privatize custodial and grounds-keeping services, a move expected to save $5 million.
Councilman Erik Cole, a former budget committee chairman, said the ultimately futile dispute with the school board offered "a painful lesson in the division of powers" written into the Metro Charter. While the council decides how much money the school district gets, the board alone decides how to spend it.
But the council did let its feelings be known, Cole said during a committee meeting Monday.
"This body can be satisfied that we sent a message," he said.
There was little suspense about the fate of Mayor Karl Dean's budget proposal, which he submitted to the council on April 29. By the end of the following weekend, large areas of the city were under water, quickly changing many council members' priorities.
In the end, the council did make a few small tweaks to Dean's plan, shifting $232,000 from a handful of accounts to provide for up to nine additional early voting sites, restore a Juvenile Court diversion/mediation program and restore jury lunches and parking for the trial courts. The final vote was 36-3.
The council already had approved the underpinning of Dean's budget last month, a debt refinancing expected to save the city more than $77 million in 2010-11 and $141 million over three years. That change will free enough money to avoid more politically difficult choices, but the city will pay an additional $47 million in debt service down the line.
The $1.52 billion budget still will be $18.1 million, or 1.2 percent, below the current year's funding.
"In this difficult economic time, we are responsibly reducing the size of our government while at the same time staving off the massive deficits and layoffs faced by other cities," said Councilman Ronnie Steine, chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee.
Several bright spots
Councilwoman Kristine LaLonde struck a similar note, saying the city had avoided closing libraries or taking other drastic measures.
"There's a lot to celebrate here," she said.
Before approving the budget, council members argued passionately for the second day in a row about a plan to provide a so-called "living wage" for 14 Metro employees. The plan, which was ultimately approved, will raise those employees' pay to $10.77 an hour, or about $22,400 a year.
Some members continued to complain that Dean's administration had slipped the measure into a larger employee pay package that needed just one council vote to become law. Councilman Phil Claiborne said the action was shameful and said it was the first time he was disappointed in the mayor's office.
But Dean aides and council supporters said during committee debate Monday that the pay package went through the normal process. Several pointed out Tuesday that the change would cost the city less than $7,400 to help 14 families.
"We have an opportunity to lift someone up," Councilwoman Edith Taylor Langster said.
The pay package also gives all full-time Metro employees a 2 percent bonus, capped at $2,000.
Contact Michael Cass at 615-259-8838 or mcass [at] tennessean [dot] com
© 2010 The Tennessean
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