Thank God We're a Two Newspaper Town*

(*-with apologies to Boston Magazine and Media Nation)

"Mayor: City may miss tax deadline because of council" -- Sentinel & Enterprise
"Mayor taking heat over city’s budget dilemma" -- Telegram & Gazette

The power struggle over the city's budget, perhaps its overall future, continues to rage as Mayor Dan Mylott and the City Council point fingers at each other for the delay in setting the city's tax rate.

In case you missed the last few episodes: Mylott filed a last-minute cut of $396,000 to the city budget. The City Council didn't approve the cuts. That means there's a chance the city's tax rate doesn't get set by Dec. 31. Which means tax bills don't go out on time. Which means the city's revenue stream stagnates. Which is bad. The council says Mylott is cutting from the wrong spots. Mylott says the council doesn't have an alternative for him.

Of course, Mylott knew since August cuts were likely. He waited until the last minute to present his cuts. We can only assume it was partly a move to set a deadline and the council to pass his cuts without a choice. They called his bluff.

Mylott, in his public comments, says he just doesn't know what to do next, but will think of something between now and Tuesday's council meeting. Councilors continue to whale away at Mylott, and Mylott continues to wonder who these pesky elected officials are making his life miserable.

Mylott says he doesn't know what the council wants, but the answer is pretty obvious. He needs six votes. He currently has five. Councilor Joel Kaddy said he'd approve the cuts if a couple of new cop cars were included. Estimated cost of two cars is $50,000. So Mylott throws the two cars in, shaves $50,000 off a $94.6 million budget, and he gets Kaddy's vote for six and a done deal. It doesn't seem like a mystery, except where the $50,000 comes from.

The mystery now is, how riled up is this council? Is it going to hold Mylott's feet to the fire for the next year? There are certainly policy and political reasons to do so. But this is for sure: If this is a harbinger of the Mylott-council relationship for the next year, Mylott is going to be in for a difficult road.