Suttle in Retreat?

According to the local daily bird cage liner (the Omaha paper) Mayor Suttle has extended an olive branch and would not think of unilaterally trying to raise the mill levy without the concurrence of the City Council. Well, that sounds nice, but to be sure this is exactly what he was planning on.

On Tuesday of last week, the day of the budget hearing, we learned from City Council members that his brand new $180,000 a year finance director (excuse us, she has taken a self-imposed cut and is now WORTH only $140,000 a year) had asserted prior to the regular council meeting to several council members that the mayor had the authority to raise taxes by himself without their approval through the budget review process. Trying to determine the validity of the THREAT, one of the councilmen asked the law department for an interpretation that was rendered quickly for the benefit of Suttle. So don't be confused, IT WAS SUTTLE AND HIS FINANCE DIRECTOR that promoted this and apparently planned on orchestrating just that if they couldn't bully the City Council into passing his tax increases.

Apparently, the mayor's 'trial balloon' exploded before even leaving the ground. Regardless, neither the council members or the citizens of Omaha are going to be very forgiving of his threatened, arrogant and dictatorial assault on traditional budget processes.

The Suttle days to recall kickoff time clock continues to run down.