No action was taken due to a lack of a quorum Thursday night as the City of Salem Finance Committee met at the Salem Community Center @ the Armory.
The meeting was spent discussing a proposed 2023-24 city budget with committee members and members of the public. City administrator Sally Burbridge and city treasurer Stacey Houston led a presentation of the draft budget, starting with assumptions made, a proposed adjusted pay scale for city employees and an overview of the total amount proposed for each fund. Then, each fund was discussed in detail, looking at an overview of each line item organized by fund.
In attendance were aldermen Shawn Bolerjack and Kyle Williams, committee chair alderwoman Kala Sisco and committee members David Weiss, Sherry Lea and Nathan Kinsey. Committee member Bernie Sirois attended via Zoom. Kinsey left the meeting early, leaving the committee without a quorum.
Also in attendance were Burbridge, Houston, public works director Mark Nash, city clerk Tammy Koller, chief of police Joe Chase and mayor Greg Parker. Committee members Mark Manjarrez and Deanna Nash were absent. Parker left about halfway through the meeting.
Sisco opened the floor to questions after each fund was presented, first to the committee members and then to the public. Sisco said that due to a lack of quorum, no votes could be taken during the meeting.
“We cannot make any kind of motion tonight, we only have three (committee members),” said Sisco.
A new meeting was set for 5:30 p.m. June 22 in the same location.
The draft budget was not publicly available until just prior to the meeting. According to city staff, changes and updates were being made just prior to the meeting for review by the committee. Click here to review the full draft budget packet as presented at the meeting.
