Like Council President Ben Hueso and Councilman Todd Gloria, Councilman Carl DeMaio is retaining his pledge to cut his budget.
I’ve been on a kick since last Thursday to see if City Council members will keep promises they made in November to reduce a combined $148,486 from their budgets. My posts were sparked by council members cutting only $25,000 when the city’s new budget passed two weeks ago.
The two council members remaining with budgets higher than their peers are Marti Emerald and Donna Frye. Both have offered initial responses to my e-mails, and detailed decreases they’ve made in their spending.
But they did not say they would change the money allocated to them at the beginning of the year, which is an important distinction. A spending cut is a choice a city councilmember would have to make year after year, and nothing keeps them from changing their mind. A budget reduction permanently eliminates the opportunity to spend more. Also, to be fair to Frye, she did not tell me in November she was going to cut her budget.
Efforts so far have resulted in council members re-pledging $116,486 in budget cuts.
— LIAM DILLON