Budget Deadline Closing in on Millbrae Council

Staring down a fast-approaching deadline, a Millbrae City Council that's been locked in a fruitless six-plus week back-and-forth with the city's finance director will have to make quick work of a budget impasse if the city expects to have material currency with which to pay its bills in a few weeks.

The council hopes to move closer to resolution at a 7 p.m. meeting tonight at City Hall that will feature the fourth study session since the April 24 release of since City Manager Marcia Raines' preliminary budget report.

The council's most recent study session, however,  did not point to a quick resolution, with council members Nadia Holober, Wayne Lee and Robert Gottschalk whether Finance Director LaRae Brown had given them adequate information.

The council has less than three weeks and just 13 business days to figure things out.

They've summoned Brown for tonight's meeting, Millbrae Mayor Marge Colapietro said.

Brown did not respond to a voicemail message.

"We have to have a budget approved by July 1," Colapietro said in a phone interview when asked if she felt the council was under pressure to come up with a quick resolution to the budget impasse.

If tonight's meeting doesn't go well, the council will have one more council meeting (on June 26) before the June 30 budget deadline. 

If they can't get it done by then, or if more hiccups emerge, they'll have to hold special budget meetings, something Colapietro said the city hasn't had in at least the last three years.

"I'm hoping not," she said.

She said the most significant questions she had about the budget were resolved by the second study session on May 8, and defended Brown's role in the impasse.

"I think the way the finance director prepares the budget is very comprehensive," she said.

Colapietro seemed to question whether her council colleagues had done their homework in advance of the study sessions, noting that her council members can email or call the city manager between study sessions for clarifications, something she said she routinely does.

"When I do my studying I get my answers and I'm fine with my answers," she said. "In my case, by the time we had the second (study) session I didn't have any lingering issues."

Colapietro bristled at the suggestion that she seemed to be taking a veiled swipe at the three council members who do have lingering issues with the finance director's presentation of the budget report.

"Don't put words in my mouth," she said.  

Colapietro declined to say whether or not she actually does question her council colleagues' preparedness for the critical budget study sessions, saying "I'm not going to judge them."

"Every council member has the right to have their questions answered," she said.

"All council members need to feel comfortable with the budget that they would approve. Some might take longer than others."

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