Post Tagged with: "budget"

Budget cuts could mean library closures

Budget cuts could mean library closures

Library branches could be closed or hours reduced as a result of new budget cuts proposed by Mayor Jean Stothert.

That’s the word from the Omaha Public Library’s board of trustees, which says the mayor’s plans come with a $393,000 cut for the rest of 2013 and all of 2014. A reduction of that size, the board said in a letter, “will require reductions in both services and resources.”

Cost-saving considerations including closing the W. Clark Swanson branch and the Florence branch completely, and closing the W. Dale Clark Library and Millard branch locations one day each week.

The library proposal is the latest bit of city finance news to trickle out in the first weeks of the Stothert administration.

June 18, 2013 Read More
Mayor Stothert: Day 1

Mayor Stothert: Day 1

Omaha’s 51st mayor is officially on the job.

After an inauguration Monday evening, attended by Gov. Dave Heineman, former mayors Mike Boyle and Hal Daub and other city officials, Mayor Jean Stothert started work Tuesday. 

The mayor and her staff spent much of the day getting settled into their third-floor offices at City Hall. But Stothert also held a news conference where she told reporters she was busy making good on campaign promises — including reducing staff in the Mayor’s Office — and met with city officials.

Meanwhile, Stothert said she plans to ask the City Council to return authority for negotiating labor contracts to the mayor’s office. Council President Pete Festersen said the council has unanimous support for that plan. 

June 11, 2013 Read More
Tax authority may be ‘gone with the wind’

Tax authority may be ‘gone with the wind’

 

State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha may win his efforts to rescind the city’s authority to impose an extra half-cent of local sales taxes.

Two of our pals in Lincoln — Joe Duggan and Paul Hammel — report that similar efforts, aimed at all Nebraska cities, failed twice earlier this legislative session. But a late 30-5 vote on Tuesday gives Chambers a victory on his third attempt to repeal his city’s taxing authority.

“This is a righteous and just vote that was taken today, and it removes a cloud from above the heads of poor and limited-income people,” Chambers said afterward.

The City of Omaha’s official position was to retain the taxing authority, which the Legislature passed last year over the governor’s veto. Omaha elected officials have not yet sought to increase the sales tax, which would require a vote of the people. The amendment was attached to a bill providing incentives for wind energy, which must now pass final reading and obtain Gov. Dave Heineman’s signature before it becomes law.

Duggan and Hammel also say the stance of Omaha Mayor-elect Jean Stothert, who opposes the half-cent law, also influenced Tuesday’s surprising vote.

May 22, 2013 Read More
ICYMI: Stothert’s early tests

ICYMI: Stothert’s early tests

UPDATE 5/21: In a press conference with Mayor Jim Suttle on Monday, the mayor-elect announced a few members of her transition team.

No word yet on if they’ll have a role in her administration, but attorney and former Nebraska Republican Party chairman David Kramer and Stothert campaign team member Rod Edwards will help Stothert as she moves into the Mayor’s Office.

Brinker Harding, a commercial real estate broker who served as campaign manager and chief of staff to former Mayor Hal Daub, also attended Monday’s meeting

From Sunday:

Mayor-elect Jean Stothert doesn’t have much time to catch her breath after last week’s decisive victory.

Stothert must work to assemble a Cabinet as her June 10 inauguration approaches. She must decide how bold to be with the city’s 2014 budget. She must reach out to the rest of city government and local interest groups.

We spoke with a group of local experts — including former mayors Hal Daub and Mike Boyle — about what Omaha’s first female mayor must now do. We also might post some other snippets from our interviews with the two ex-mayors later this week.

May 20, 2013 Read More
Both barrels on gun control

Both barrels on gun control

Instead of talking city finances or epic floods, Mayor Jim Suttle’s campaign has used its first campaign commercial to endorse a local ban on assault weapons.

This is sure to appeal to the mayor’s liberal base of voters; and those of his opponents.

Click through to see how the mayor’s ad compares to the rest of the field.

March 11, 2013 Read More
Sequester means housing program cuts

Sequester means housing program cuts

A federal grant program used by the city of Omaha for a variety of housing and neighborhood-building efforts is getting hit by the sequester.

Planning officials say they expect to see about $367,000 less in their allocation from the Community Development Block Grant program. Last year, the city got about $4.6 million, plus another $2.1 million in related federal grants. James Thele, the city’s assistant planning director for housing and community development, says all of it will probably be cut by about 8 percent.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which administers the grants, requires that less than 20 percent of the money be used on administrative costs. That means most of Omaha’s cuts will be felt in programs, not staffing.

March 4, 2013 Read More
ICYMI: City fared well in recession

ICYMI: City fared well in recession

If you haven’t already, check out Henry Cordes’ piece on how Omaha weathered the Great Recession.

No metro area in the country took a more gentle economic tumble, the Brookings Institution concluded.

February 26, 2013 Read More
New cruisers are here

New cruisers are here

Yes, the gearheads at The Hall have eagerly updated you on the Omaha Police Department’s new cruiser fleet.

Now we’re getting our first looks of the department’s Chevrolet Caprice PPV’s. Count me as a fan of the new light bar system.

The City Council already signed off on the acquisition of 40 Caprice cruisers and five Ford sport utility vehicles under a three-year leasing program that will cost about $670,000 annually. The city has the option to buy the cruisers at a cut rate once the leases expire. We’ll keep a close eye on the success of the leasing program as it moves forward.

The department has more video of the cars in action. Take a look after the jump.

February 6, 2013 Read More
Benson Park facelift begins

Benson Park facelift begins

One of the city’s most well-used parks is in for a series of upgrades — although some will require the financial support of the neighborhood.

Benson Park, near North 70th Street and Military Avenue, has already seen accessibility updates to its pavillion. Starting this spring, visitors will also notice crews putting in new picnic areas, additional fishing spots and new barricades to make parking safer.

Said interim parks director Brook Bench: “This one is really driven by the use of the park. It’s so used on the weekends — this is a big enough park where we can do these improvements, but don’t have the facilities to do them.”

December 31, 2012 Read More
ICYMI: Cruiser cameras not running

ICYMI: Cruiser cameras not running

Over the weekend, we reported that nearly nine months after the City Council authorized spending $1.2 million to outfit 130 Omaha Police cruisers with Panasonic cameras, police administrators have encountered a series of technical problems that kept the equipment from working properly.

We’ve watched this issue closely since last year, when concerns about the city’s last set of decrepit camera equipment sparked calls for new spending.

After months of work to iron out problems with the new equipment, department officials now hope to begin training roughly 450 officers and command staff on the systems by the first week in November. The goal is to activate the first cruiser cameras in the city’s northeast precinct by December.

October 29, 2012 Read More