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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, December 07, 2009 Page 9 intensive; but now she was hearing that the same numbers could be moved from one column to another. Councilmember Pust suggested that, in an attempt to get along, those numbers could have been provided as requested. Councilmember Roe questioned if the budget expenditure summary was what Councilmember Ihlan was seeking, or if she was seeking other documents detail- ing all tax-supported items, and asked for clarification of her request. Councilmember Ihlan clarified that her request was for a line item corresponding to the proposed tax levy; which she had received for fee-supported programs, but not for tax-supported items. Councilmember Ihlan asked, if the 2010 tax- supported levy was essentially the same as 2009 except for a few line items, why those specific line items could not be changed and spreadsheets run similar to those on line for 2009. Councilmember Ihlan advised that what she and the pub- lic were expected to do is look at 2009 numbers that were not the same on key is- sues where staff was proposing increases, creating confusion for her and the pub- lic on where those increases are coming from. Councilmember Ihlan opined that her request was simple, and was all public information. Councilmember Ihlan advised that she was not happy being forced to make a public data information re- quest; and expressed disappointment that fellow Councilmembers would not sup- port her request, suggesting it was simply a power play and reiterating her request for their support for the benefit of her and the public, to achieve the. best budget possible and proper funding for services. Finance Director Miller provided clarification and advised that the public data in- formation request of Councilmember Ihlan, under the direction of the City Attor- ney, could not be fulfilled by staff since the information had yet to be created, and the public data information was specific to items already in existence. Mr. Miller advised that staff had provided the information that was available, but noted that the 2010 lien item budgets had not yet been created; and noted that the process normally took approximately one month to complete, specific to allocations among the City's various programs and services. Mr. Miller advised that staff was awaiting finality from the City Council, as part of the BFO process, to com- plete that task, with emphasis on the program level, not detracting the focus at line item detail. Mayor Klausing quoted from the November 23, 2009 meeting minutes the City Attorney opinion regarding and clarifying information requests based on informa- tion not already in existence; and noted that staff was not making any attempt to withhold information; and spoke in support of any City Councilmember or mem- ber of the public requesting information that was in existence. Mayor Klausing asked that Mr. Miller again review, as mentioned by Councilmember Pust, how the programs correlated to the BFO process and line items.