Tag Archives: budget cuts

Top 10 local government stories of 2009

By Adam Beam | Published: December 31, 2009
It’s time to count down the top 10 local government stories of 2009. Some top 10 lists are not in any particular order. This one is listed in order of importance, because what fun is a list unless it makes people mad? So if you disagree, let me know. Here we go: 10. Buffers The trouble started in [...]
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Police horses need money

By Adam Beam | Published: December 10, 2009
Earlier this year, I wrote about how Columbia’s police department budget did not include money for police dogs and police horses. Since then, the money for the dogs has been restored. Not so for the horses. Police Chief Tandy Carter’s solution is to raise money to save the horses’ jobs. He has to do it by March [...]
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Guide to tomorrow’s City Council work session

By Adam Beam | Published: December 8, 2009
Columbia City Council meets tomorrow at 9 a.m. for a work session. You can read the agenda by clicking here. Here’s a summary: 1. Ordinance No. 2009-128 This authorizes a lease between Columbia and Open Living Communities for some property at 5406 Farrow Road. Open Living Communities is an assisted living facility that caters to disabled veterans. The city [...]
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Council decides to save money by not spending it

By adam beam | Published: September 3, 2009
After council members had to massively cut the budget this year — including laying off employees and reducing staffing at two fire stations — they decided it would be a good idea to spend up to $225,000 to study how the city could save money. Wednesday, council members were supposed to select a consulting firm to [...]
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Columbia 2009 deficit approximately $9 million

By adam beam | Published: July 6, 2009
Columbia is now six days into the new budget year, which means the I-have-been-set-free accounting department is busy closing the books for the 2009 budget year. Preliminary numbers do not look good. Bill Ellis, the city’s interim chief financial officer, said the city earned about $104 million in 2008-09. They spent about $113 million. I’ll do the [...]
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