The mayor’s aim with his largest line-item veto — holding back $31.8 million in income taxes earmarked for the county general fund — was to force the council into new talks about a long-term budget deal. He intends to save the money to help close a projected budget gap in 2014.
Ultimately, Ballard is leaving it up to the council after Jan. 1 to decide how much each county office must share in the cuts. He trimmed 14.5 percent from the county general fund.
Offices headed by elected county officials, all of them Democrats, would be among those affected.
“To say I’m disappointed is an understatement,” council President Maggie Lewis said at a news conference after Thursday night’s meeting. “Bipartisanship takes both Republicans and Democrats. . . . Obviously, we’re going to have to continue the conversation.”
But during the meeting, the Democrats expressed little willingness to play along with Ballard.
They lobbed repeated criticism at the mayor and aggressively questioned his budget chief. They invited a parade of county officials to speak about dire consequences that would result from the deep cuts.
Prosecutor Terry Curry wondered aloud if cutbacks in his office’s child support collection and domestic violence divisions would be necessary.
“The bottom line,” Curry said, “is that any further reduction in our budget is obviously unacceptable and intolerable.”
The council voted 16-10 along party lines to override that veto, with three Republicans absent. The vote fell short of the 20 needed for an override.
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