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The Lincoln City Council got its first crack at the mayor’s proposed budget this week, but largely decided to stay on the sidelines. 
Apparently Mayor Chris Beutler’s $154 million spending blueprint is so flawless that it merited just one single, solitary change: $748,000 was redirected toward park maintenance and repairs.
Republican Councilman Jon Camp tried to move a half million dollars out of information services and into the police and firefighters’ pension fund, eliminate a fund shift that will continue to fund a mayoral aide’s position and delay the mayor’s doubling of parking meter rates. But he couldn’t get enough support from his colleagues. He is one of two Republicans on the seven-member council.
“I’ll get outvoted on anything I propose,” he lamented on Friday. He was right: He was unable to round up enough votes for a single change to the budget on Monday.
The mayor had already addressed council members’ concerns about his plan to cut two cops and stop having police respond to non-injury crashes and agreed to devote another $50,000 toward mowing parks. A public hearing on the budget will be held Aug. 6.
