At loggerheads over the Westminster budget

The members of Westminster City Council remained last night in disagreement over how to wipe out a projected deficit of several hundreds of thousands of dollars as their new government year fast approaches.  At the start of a budget workshop, City Administrator Chris Carter told the mayor and council that, by law, the city is obligated to have in place a budget that squares expenses with revenues.  Carter indicated failure to do that will put a stop to any financial transactions after Friday, June 30.  Drastic personnel cuts along with the potential of asking the county to takeover the municipal fire department remain possibilities, but there’s strong division among the council members.  Last night’s lengthy budget workshop proved frustrating and, at one point, went from an open to a private meeting. Coming out of that closed meeting was a motion which passed that directs the city administrator to review the salary plan covering utility employees to “to more accurately reflect appropriate salaries for the positions based there.”  Potential changes to the utility workers pay scale may not be the only affect on city workers.  Chief Dean Awalt and the police department are bracing for the potential loss of four positions.