The Daily Hustle: 9/9/10

As promised, the Hustle is catching up with Laura Morrison today, getting her thoughts as she heads into this Monday's budget adoption. What says her crystal ball?

Morrison says the tax rate is good where it is, adding she'd consider going further below Ott's recommendation if she could find further savings. But “in terms of going above, I would only want to consider that as a last resort,” she says, adding council should “recognize the situation that our economy is in and what people are feeling.”

Priorities: She shares her colleagues interest in increasing parks maintenance, saying “I'm hopeful there might be a way to do to increase parks maintenance without adding to the property tax burden.”

But the Hustle and Morrison spoke mostly about her plan to funnel more money into social services, which she felt “pretty optimistic” about passing. In the current budget, “Health & Human Services actually came in a million under budget,” money which would normally go into a reserve fund. “These are extraordinary times, and the service demands we have on the social service providers we contract with have increased over the past year and look to be pretty high this year.” To that end, she says, “Instead of rolling that million over into reserve, do a one time allocation back to Health and Human Services to increase funding to social service providers. … Now would be a time to take a special step,” she says, but “we have to recognize it's just a one time thing.”

What the hell else is happening?

On the city calendar: A special called meeting of the Urban Renewal Agency meets in the Street-Jones Building, Room 400A, 1000 E. 11th, 12pm.

A special called meeting of the MBE/WBE & Small Business Enterprise Procurement Prog Advisory Committee gathers in the Board and Commission room at City Hall, 310 W. Second, 2pm.

The Office of the Police Monitor Citizen Review Panel meets in City Hall's Council Chambers, 6pm.

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