From the Indianapolis Star:
It was never going to be easy. Before the nearly $1.1 billion budget was fully approved, Republican Mayor Greg Ballard and the Democratic-majority City-County Council tangled over line-item vetoes and other disputes, eventually agreeing to a bipartisan deal in January. It called for them to work together throughout this year on budget matters.
The most difficult task: carrying out a part of the agreement that calls for finding up to $30 million in across-the-board cuts in the nearly $600 million general fund portion of the budget. That covers day-to-day operations across all city departments and county offices and agencies.
The thinking was that cutting back even more in this year’s budget would reduce the extent — and pain — of an anticipated $35 million in needed cuts coming in 2014 to close an expected deficit. Falling short of the goal will mean more difficult choices to make this fall when the 2014 budget is due to be finalized.
So far, bipartisan discussions involving the Ballard administration, council leaders, department heads and elected county officials have produced a list of cuts and other options that would improve the bottom line by nearly $17 million, a little more than halfway to the $30 million target.
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See the full article here:
http://www.indystar.com/article/20130405/NEWS05/304050051/Indianapolis-Marion-County-leaders-finding-30M-budget-cuts-tough-task
