Accusations of city reps overspending false
City Rep. Emma Acosta said on Wednesday the heated allegations claiming a city representative had gone over the office budget were unfounded and make the council look dysfunctional.
During a tense discussion on various ethics issues, City Representatives Lily Limon and Carl Robinson implied another city rep. had depleted their office budget and possibly “dipped into” the general fund to make up the difference.
“How is it possible for a city representative to go into the hole 4,000, 5,000, 20,000 on a given budget year. See that’s a very interesting concept,” said City Rep. Lily Limon during an interview Tuesday.
When later asked who she was referring to, Limon said she had no confirmation that was true but had heard it through the grapevine. ABC-7 on Wednesday checked through the city representatives office budgets and it appeared none had gone over budget. “At this time there’s no one who is projected to go over budget,” said Robert Cortinas, the City’s Budget Director.
City representatives receive an annual $115,958 budget for their office to pay for staff and supplies and miscellaneous expenses. Most city representatives have a full time Legislative Aid and a part time aid. The City Representatives also receive $5,000 a year in discretionary funds. The discretionary funds roll over from year to year if they’re not used.
“Before you (city representatives) say that, you should check, make sure you understand what you’re saying and make sure you can justify it. Here it is in black and white but she (Limon) didn’t have that. She just had allegations,” said Acosta on Wednesday.
Acosta is projected to use more than her $115,000 office budget but she has almost $39,570 in discretionary funds rolled over from prior years, which is projected to leave her office with an unused $21,023, meaning she’s not over budget
Acosta said unfounded accusations are what make the city council look bad. “Call it what it is, dysfunctional. I think thats inappropriate. We’re colleagues, we’re supposed to work as a team. I think the respect among certain city reps has been lost.”
