Featured photo by Tanya Terry
Written by Jameca Patrick-Singleton
Flint City Council approved the administration’s proposed budget on Monday June 6, 2022 with a 5-1 vote. Councilwoman Tonya Burns voted no, Councilman Eric Mays abstained, Councilman Quincy Murphy had been removed from the meeting prior to the vote and Councilman Dennis Pfeiffer was not in attendance. This approval came after the council had been conducting budget hearings since April. The approved budget is for almost $65 million in general fund expenditures.
Though the budget was approved without any changes to the recommendations from the mayor’s office, Flint City Clerk Inez Brown admonished the administration for not having proper representation at the end of the process.
Brown made a statement which in part said: “My statement is not from a political stand point. It’s from a public policy standpoint. I have been here since 1997 as the clerk and I have been through a number of councils, probably ten. This is the first time that I have seen whereby the administration was not involved with respect to coming to the latter meeting that we had the other night. Whether they agreed with what council was doing, or whether they disagreed.”
She went on to say: “anytime a budget is adopted by the council someone from the administration must be here to answer and address any questions that may come up in the interim.”
City administrators who were present for Brown’s statement stated that they had nothing to add after she concluded speaking.
