Council members warn of growing budget pressures, propose alternative budgeting and scrutiny of positions and contracts

Council members used the budget committee meeting to press for a more exacting review of staffing, long‑term costs and contracts and to authorize preparation of an alternative budget if the county executive’s proposal exceeds the council’s target.

Budget coordinator Chris Grama Howard warned that automatic pay step increases and bargaining agreements are likely to raise this year’s police budget from about $185,000,000 toward $193–195,000,000, and he said the council may need to set a ceiling if department asks exceed what the county can sustain. “If they're gonna go over 200,000,000, I'm gonna come back to you and say you need to look at a target less than $200,000,000 for the police department,” he said.

Councilman Hancock noted the Department of Revenue reported 23 vacancies and asked whether those positions are necessary. “If we're getting the work done without them, do we really need to fill it?” he asked, urging liaisons to verify whether vacant positions represent real savings or are subsequently restored by the executive.

Members also discussed program IDs, central service chargebacks and the county’s Workday rollout as tools (and sources of uncertainty) for tracking costs; Chris encouraged demanding implementation timelines, detailed cost breakdowns and return‑on‑investment evidence before approving new spending. He recommended the council be conservative with appropriation authority and consider removing items from the budget until departments can provide complete implementation details.

The committee agreed to have liaisons gather specific numbers (personnel, fringe, big‑ticket items) and return the completed one‑pagers before the Sept. 30 public meeting so the council can assemble an alternative budget quickly if needed.