From an editorial in this morning's edition of lancasteronline:
Mayor Leo Lutz gave two reasons for vetoing Columbia Borough's hold-the-line budget for 2015: a budget process he saw as not including the public in discussions and council's failure to include the lease of a new police cruiser. Borough Council has scheduled a special meeting for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the borough building, 308 Locust St., to discuss overriding the mayor's veto. The votes of five of the council's seven members are required to override a veto.
The mayor said he couldn’t recall any public budget meetings over the last few months at which all council members were in attendance, yet “the proposed budget was changed three times.”
To be fair, the mayor was not present at all council meetings, either. But, to his point, council did not, as it has in the past, make a point-by-point presentation of its budget prior to the Dec. 8 meeting at which it voted to advertise the budget and schedule it for a vote.
That effectively reduced, from two to one, opportunities for the public to learn about the budget.
Transparency is about more than holding votes in public. It’s also about airing matters of public importance fully and publicly.
Of all the public matters a governing body addresses, its spending plan for the year is among the most important.
It sets priorities for use of taxpayer money, and it ought to be done with full consideration, in full public view and with adequate notice to the public for residents to get a chance to understand it and make their voices heard.
Two full hearings should have been held on the 2015 budget.
