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Thursday, July 30 — 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., Metropolitan Community College south campus, Industrial Training Center, Room 119, 27th and Q Streets.
To some residents of what was once Elkhorn, Omaha's budget problems are like a gaudy necklace inherited from a relative — awful, but you're stuck with it.
Veronica Jankiewicz was one of those residents who attended the first of Mayor Jim Suttle's public roundtable discussions Tuesday night on his 2010 budget proposal, which includes a new tax on entertainment and a property tax increase.
The meeting at the Common Ground community center drew about 150 people, some of them still upset about losing their town's identity when Omaha annexed Elkhorn two years ago.
Jankiewicz criticized the plan to increase taxes.
“It's just not right,” she said. “We already paid taxes.”
Suttle's office organized the meeting to explain the budget process to the public. Two more meetings are planned, one tonight and one Thursday.
The city is cutting $14 million from its 2009 budget. Suttle's 2010 proposal, which he presented last week, addresses a projected $11 million gap in next year's budget.
The city's budget woes are due in part to lower-than-anticipated revenues and higher costs during the national recession.
People disliked not only the budget; some weren't too impressed with the meeting format, either.
Tuesday's meeting was set up like this: The crowd was split into groups of about 20 people around large tables. Suttle and representatives of several city departments, including police, fire, public works and parks, individually visited each table for 10 minutes, answering questions about the city's finances.
After the time was up, each representative moved on until each had visited every table.
Cheryl Dillon said she hated the format, and she told the mayor so.
“If you run the city like this meeting here tonight, it's atrocious,” she said.
Dillon said the main problem was the noise created when people got into discussions and city officials moved a few tables into the hallway to make more room.
Plus, she said, people didn't get to voice their opinions in front of the entire group, as they do during a standard public hearing. Suttle thanked her for her feedback.
But Bev Dalton said she liked the way the meeting was set up: “I didn't see a problem with it.”
Suttle heard about much more than just the meeting format. The mayor was at times grilled on issues such as the Qwest Center Omaha's debt, his tax proposals and the salaries he has given some of his new department directors.
Suttle's new finance director will make nearly double what the current one does, a move that has raised a few eyebrows.
That salary and the proposed tax increases didn't sit well with Jankiewicz.
She asked Suttle, “Don't you think it would be wiser to cut your staff's salaries?”
Suttle said he has consolidated his staff's duties and has cut part-time jobs.
“Your city is having a heart attack,” Suttle said, “and I need a heart surgeon.”
People also questioned the city's decisions to permanently close Westwood Heights Golf Course and to close some city pools early to save money.
“People are very angry,” Dorothy Higgins said. “There are a lot of hard feelings. I don't think there has been much thought given to taxpayers.”
Suttle said he is doing the best he can in dealing with the city's financial problems, which he said go back years.
His spokesman, Ron Gerard, said after the meeting that he was satisfied with the way things went. It is important to keep the discussion open, he said.
“I'm glad we did this,” he said. “I hope people who came in learned something new.”
Contact the writer:
444-3100, maggie.obrien@owh.com
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