Belle Isle’s bid to cut more from Alpharetta budget fails

2008-05-29 ALPHARETTA AND ROSWELL REVUE & NEWS

Belle Isle's bid to cut more from Alpharetta budget fails

Failed motion

Among those budget items Councilman David Bell Isle asked to be removed were:

• $125,000 for data center test equipment and software;

• $240,000 for a CISCO data network (IT department);

• $25,000 for a new Recreation & Parks truck;

• $75,000 for a stormwater utility feasibility study (Engineering & Public Works department);

• Elimination of a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) specialist for Engineering & Public Works, a network analyst for IT; and both a part-time administrative assistant for IT and a full-time administrative assistant for Public Safety.

• $2,300 for a program that takes photos of residents with their pets.

June 12, 2008
ALPHARETTA -- City Council approved its first reading Thursday night of next fiscal year's $85 million budget, rolling back the millage rate assessed on property by almost half a mill -- but still shy of what is considered a revenue neutral budget.

The council's final public hearing on its budget and millage rate will be Thursday, June 19 at 7:30 p.m.

The $56.5 million general fund received the most attention from council. Debt service is required because the city already owes that money to pay back bonds approved by voters through referendums.

Councilman David Belle Isle's substitute motion that would have cut approximately $720,000 in operating and capital portions of the budget failed for lack of a second.

Belle Isle said he didn't question the need for all of the initiatives, he just suggested that this might not be the year to fund them.

IT Director Randy Bundy said during the morning public hearing that the data center equipment would allow backup systems for when computer systems, servers and applications fail, and also provides a test bed for new software and updates to software so his staff can make sure the "upgrades" do not crash live systems that have no backups.

The CISCO data network would replace what Bundy terms a "home network" the city now uses incapable of keeping data secure.

Mayor Arthur Letchas and council members Cheryl Oakes, Jim Paine and John Monson also attended the rare Thursday night meeting, with Doug DeRito and D.C. Aiken absent.

- www.northfulton.com

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