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Regular City Council Meeting <br />Monday, December 07, 2009 <br />Page 8 <br />process and provide that information to Councilmember Ihlan as requested; how- <br />ever they were unable to provide more detail on the tax-supported budget line <br />items as the document had yet to be created. Mr. Malinen advised. that the base <br />line 2009 budget document, with line item attachments and detail, was currently <br />being used for development of the 2010 budget. <br />Councilmember Johnson opined that, when the City Council majority had chosen <br />to follow the BFO process this year, he had made a commitment as a Council- <br />member to that process. Councilmember Johnson noted that, at that time, Coun- <br />cilmember Ihlan had expressed her discomfort with that BFO process. Council- <br />member Johnson, however, noted that Councilmember Ihlan's motion was re- <br />questing the City to do two types of budgets at the same time; a labor intensive <br />feat that would defeat the purpose of giving this budget process a fair chance. <br />Councilmember Johnson reiterated his commitment to the process, and out of re- <br />spect for that commitment, could not support Councilmember Ihlan's motion. <br />Councilmember Roe noted that City Manager Malinen had made the point that the <br />2009 information was available, and advised that he was using this information as <br />he proceeded through the BFO process for the 2010 budget. Councilmember Roe <br />noted, that going in to the BFO process for the 2011 budget, the line item detail <br />would then be included as part of this first year's process and reflecting the <br />changes made by the City Council this year. Councilmember Roe opined that, in <br />the decision-making process, it was not right to say that the information was not <br />needed; however, he further opined that it was not right to say that the City Coun- <br />cil and public did not have the information, since the detail was available with the <br />2009 budget. <br />Councilmember Pust spoke in support of the motion, as well as previous requests <br />for 2010 budget detail of Councilmember Ihlan, not based on her respect of the <br />BFO process. Councilmember Pust noted that she'd heard that providing the in- <br />formation was atime-consuming task for staff, while also hearing that it was not <br />labor intensive. Councilmember Pust reviewed the information that Council- <br />member Ihlan had received from staff when she filed the data practices informa- <br />tion request, included for Council information tonight that included budget ex- <br />penditure summaries for all the various funds and for 2010 budget numbers, with <br />some lines "x'd" out and a total figure put in from the BFO process. Ms. Pust fur- <br />ther noted that 2009 budget numbers were included, and if 2010 budget numbers <br />were the same as 2009, staff could have transferred that information; and if it <br />wasn't the same, based on the 10 items that had been adjusted mid-year in 2009, <br />staff could have indicated those different figures for those 10 items. Council- <br />member Pust opined that it wasn't the Council's job to decide what Councilmem- <br />bers needed during the budget process, and that she needed to be treated fairly <br />even if all Councilmembers were not in agreement on the information needed. <br />Councilmember Pust noted that at previous meetings, she had heard Finance Di- <br />rector Miller say that providing the information would be extremely labor- <br />