The Recorder has an article up this morning about Mayor Wedegartner’s withdrawal of her pledge of $365k to the schools:
Mayor Roxann Wedegartner submitted her notice of withdrawal on Monday in an email to City Council President Dan Guin and Vice President Christine Forgey.
“This withdrawal notice is the result of the recent City Council votes to add $1,175,594 to the Greenfield public schools FY24 school budget,” Wedegartner wrote. “The $365,000 of supplemental funding is no longer needed by the School Department.”
The quote from the Mayor:
“We don’t use {supplemental budgets} very often because it isn’t a way to run a city,” Wedegartner said in a phone interview Tuesday when explaining her decision to withdraw the pair of financial orders. “You try to budget appropriately when you first put forward a budget.”
The Recorder also quotes At-Large Councilor (and former mayor) Christine Forgey:
“Whatever the council cut came to $1.2 million,” said Forgey, who served as the city’s first mayor. “I have no problem with that figure being funded to the schools. However, I do appreciate, from a mayor’s point of view, the logic that is needed to protect the budget that has already been cut, especially the borrowing pieces and insurance pieces.”
If I may editorialize for a moment, what has possibly bothered me the most throughout this debate has been the consistent condescending and lecturing tone coming from the Mayor and her supporters on the City Council. Rather than lists and acknowledging the community, they continually issue “What you don’t understand…” responses, the equivalent of patting people on the head and sending them along.
Councilor Forgey’s quote here is a good example. Of course this makes sense, she tells us.
This attitude comes across as “How dare you question me?” Having just watched last month’s meeting to the Public Safety Commission, I cannot help but notice the similarities with the indignant responses from the Deputy Police Chief and some commissioners to any questions or challenges from the City Council and the public.
I have seen some comments about how the Recorder did not quote anyone from the schools. I understand the complaint, but I also wonder if anyone from the schools would have been willing to go on the record. They are, after all, city employees. Based on her comments at last week’s City Council meeting, Superintendent Christine DeBarge seems to be fully in the mode of “We’ll take what we can get and do the best we can,” so I’d be surprised if any of the administration would give the paper a quote.