Letter to the Editor: City budgets; mayors propose – councils dispose

If you follow the melodrama of the Evansville City Council, you should apply the lessons to be learned from there to the cities of Huntingburg and Jasper.  City Councils control the budgets of cities!  Mayors propose … councils dispose.

The Evansville City Council has nine members, eight Democrats and one Republican.  Democrat members have fought with one another, called each other names and one even “made an obscene gesture” at another during a party gathering.  Not a pretty sight.  The 2016 Budget has been the focal point of the Democrats’ municipal campaign with their candidate for mayor and some of the Council Members throwing mud at Mayor Winnecke and putting obstacles in the way of budget adoption.  On Monday, October 12th they voted 5-4 against his proposed budget.  (Note:  three Democrats voted FOR the budget.)

Evansville Democrats have tried to label Mayor Lloyd Winnecke a Big Spender.  Their label doesn’t stick.  The Mayor has tried to follow the guidelines suggested by the Democrats in their budget hearings, but can’t get it right because the Democrats won’t cooperate.  The point is – the City Council controls spending and taxing in a city.

In Huntingburg and Jasper, the City Councils have adopted all of the budgets proposed by Mayor Spinner and Mayor Seitz!  If a City Councilor has an issue with a budget, its priorities or details, they have ample opportunity to express themselves in public meetings.  Big spending labels don’t stick to either mayor in Dubois County!

Re-elect Mayor Spinner and Mayor Seitz.

Don Hayes, Chairman
Dubois County GOP