Here’s what’s up next Tuesday (7/22) when the city council meets at 9:30 a.m.:
– A $1 increase to the base charge on your water bill. Blame the rain for that one. The city says it fell $3.5 million short of its projections because people aren’t watering their fields and lawns as much as they usually do. By adding a $1 increase to the base charge, the city can count on a steady cash flow from its 140,000 customer accounts. More increases are expected when the city council votes on the 2009-2010 budget on Aug. 12. Of course, that base charge increase will still be there when a dry year comes along. The increase gives the city an extra $1.68 million a year, which will help pay of debt for the next phase of the aquifer recharge project.
– The council will also set the maximum amount of taxes levied for their 2009-2010 budget. That could spur another debate over budget issues, such as whether to fund a downtown police bureau and how to staff fire stations. (Previous Eagle story.)
– Council members will also vote whether to shift $500,000 in emergency money to pay for repairs and Chapin Landfill, which has been closed since 1987. Late last month, officials found methane was leaking from the old landfill. It forced the evacuation of five homes. (Previous Eagle story.)
The agenda and some supporting documents are available in a PDF file.
2 Comments
BRENT
I hate to be a nag, but are you ever going to report the names of the investors that own the Broadview Hotel. As I tried to explain to the readers, these investors, the hotel has been losing money and the investors probably bought the hotel for next to nothing. They would ahve earned a huge windfall when they sold the hotel to NY investors along with a subsidized city loan and would have bought the city owned garage at a 90% discount.
I think that the McLatchy executives read these blogs and don’t know what to do with a worthless daily with worthless reporters. Given the recent firings 2 weeks ago of KAKE’s station manager and KWCH’s news director & assignment editor (ouch!) and last weeks resignation of KSN’s news director to make a lateral move back to Tulsa, I bet that there’s a lot of buzz in the industry about the Wichita news media betraying their profession. I’m glad I was video taped at the 12/2007 public forum at Rucky Eck chewing your butt out for the Eagle refusing to cover the human rights atrocites in the Wichtia juvenile courts. AS you recall less than 6 weeks later a 2 year girl died because fascist Judge Tony Powell did not have good information and had to make a life & death decision on bad information.
However I’m very surprised that Pam is risking her professional reputation by continuing the stonewalling. I spoke with Carrie yesterday and told her that I would e-mail her some scanned documents to pass up the chain of command. It’s never too late for the Eagle reporters & editors to make amends by doing their job. Who knows, you may even save some children’s lives (although I understand that that is not a goal of civic journalism).
Bill McKean kiakahahaha@yahoo.com 316 293-6079
I heard through the grapevine that you have moved out of state, Bill. Why are you still so concerned with the Wichita Press when you no longer live in the area?