Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Budget ordinance approved over objections about police staffing classifications.
Hyattsville residents can banish the thought of a municipal government shutdown. Last night, the Hyattsville City Council approved next year's budget ordinance by a vote of seven to two, with Councilor Paula Perry (Ward 4) and Councilor Ruth Ann Frazier (Ward 5) voting against. Councilor Tim Hunt (Ward 3) abstained, while Councilor Nicole Hinds Mofor was absent citing illness. The budget lays out $28.3 million in expenditures for fiscal year 2013, which begins on July 1. That includes $14 million in general operating expenses and $9.1 million in capital projects financing. The budget is propped up with $20.8 million in revenues from taxes and fees, and $5.9 million in bond and lease proceeds. That means expenditures will outstrip revenues…
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Mayor avoids closed session for now, claiming progress towards a resolution of police staffing issues.
Mayor Marc Tartaro last night avoided a potentially controversial closed session to discuss aspects of next year's budget for the Hyattsville City Police Department. But the move pushes back final approval of next year's budget by at least one week. "The closed session will not be necessary at this time," said Tartaro. "That issue is moot." After the meeting, expanding on his "moot" comment, Tartaro said that he had met with senior city staff, including City Treasurer and Acting City Administrator Elaine Stookey and Police Chief Doug Holland, earlier in the day. Among the topics they discussed was a resolution to the police personnel classification issues which have been the latest sticking point in budget deliberations. The dispute …
Monday, May 14, 2012
At least some aspects of a debate over the police budget could be held behind closed doors during tonight's Hyattsville City Council meeting.
Budget season drags on for the Hyattsville City Council, which tonight is slated to consider approving next year's omnibus budget ordinance. Part of those deliberations could take place behind closed doors, as Mayor Marc Tartaro has proposed holding a closed session to discuss aspects of the police department budget. At last week's meeting, a week after the council's self imposed budget deadline, the city council voted to table the measure to get more information on controversial changes to personnel counts in the Hyattsville City Police Department. The dispute centered on a discrepancy between police personnel classifications called for in two different budget measures. In mid-April, the city council approved a police department budget …
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Hyattsville City Council member outlines position on closed session to discuss police budget.
At least one member of Hyattsville's City Council has come out in favor of using a closed session to discuss aspects of a controversial budget measure, so long as they stick to appropriate closed session topics. Yesterday, in emails sent to fellow city council members and Hyattsville Patch, Councilor Shani Warner (Ward 2) outlined her position on the prospect of using closed sessions to debate the rationale behind recent changes to the city police department's personnel classifications called for in the proposed 2013 omnibus budget bill. "I think it's appropriate to give the Mayor the closed session he claims is necessary, not because it clearly is, but because it's at least conceivable that there is information about individual …
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Proposal to take parking enforcement out of hands of police department and into code enforcement scrutinized by Hyattsville City Council.
Who do you want writing your parking ticket? A police officer or a code enforcement officer? That very question vexed members of Hyattsville's City Council last night as they discussed next year's budget for the Department of Community and Economic Development. The council took no action on the department's budget measure during last night's meeting. The budget, in addition to laying out dollars and cents for the next fiscal year, also calls for parking enforcement to be taken out of the hands of the city police department, and placed into the hands of the city's code enforcement officers. Councilor Tim Hunt (Ward 3) worried that such a shift in duties could cause a decline in the quality of the city's code enforcement efforts. The …
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
For the seventh year in a row, Hyattsville residents have dodged an increase in the property tax rates.
The Hyattsville City Council's 2013 budget process inched along a bit on Monday night, when the council gathered for a public hearing on next year's property tax rate. Good news for taxpayers in the city: there are no local tax hikes slated for the next fiscal year. The city is proposing to not increase the real property tax rate, which is currently set at 63 cents per every $100 of assessed property values. The personal property tax rate will also remain unchanged at $1.15 per $100, and personal property public utilities tax rate will also remain unchanged at $1.98 per $100 in assessed value, said Mayor Marc Tartaro at the public hearing. Hyattsville hasn't had a property tax rate hike since 2005. Hyattsville resident D. Marshall, who…
Scurvy
3:02 pm on Monday, May 14, 2012
The only way this should fall under the exclusions is if ONE PARTICULAR employee was being discussed or a collective bargaining issue was involved. This is another case of the "Star Chamber" running the City as their own little empire. more ›