In the next few days, Lansing mayor Virg Bernero is expected to veto all or part of the budget plan the city council passed.
Bernero indicated his intention to veto the budget during a sometimes contentious city council meeting last night. He did little, if anything, to conceal his contempt for the changes the city council made to the budget plan he submitted two months ago.
Bernero called the council’s budget plan “a train wreck” filled with “fantasy funding.” He suggested parts of it may have been the result of “backroom” dealing by some council members.
The mayor is particularly angry over the council’s decision to demand more money from the city’s utility to help pay for added spending.
Council president Brian Jeffries says the mayor’s comments were “demeaning” not constructive.
“It’s getting real tiresome because this is the way he operates," says Jeffries, "“It just doesn’t advance the ball very much if you will. In the sense…creating a relationship that people can work within…an environment that people can work within.”
The city council passed the budget on a five to three vote, but that would leave the council one vote short of what’s needed to override the mayor’s expected veto.
The mayor has three days to veto the budget. The city council would have until the end of the month to try to override the mayor’s veto.
