Special Commission Meeting to discuss City of Dayton’s 2023 budget today

DAYTON — A special Commission Meeting is set to be held today to discuss the future of the City of Dayton’s 2023 budget.

The Dayton City Commission was set to vote on the budget at their meeting Wednesday night. The vote didn’t happen because Commissioners Shenise Turner-Sloss and Darryl Fairchild abstained from voting for the budget as an emergency ordinance.

If passed with four out of five votes as an emergency ordinance, then the budget would take effect immediately. If passed by a simple majority as a non-emergency ordinance, then it would not take effect until 30 days after it is approved.

“I am deeply concerned by the risk this circumstance poses to the City of Dayton employees and residents,” Mayor Jeffrey Mims, Jr. said in a statement requesting the special meeting Friday afternoon.

>> RELATED: Police, fire service in question as Dayton City Commission fails to pass 2023 budget

A notice for the special meeting outlined that it would take place at 3 p.m. in the Commission Chambers. The topics for Saturday’s special meeting include:

• The proposed passage of the 2023 Temporary Appropriations Ordinance to be passed as an emergency
• The proposed passage of the 2023 Temporary Appropriations Ordinance to be passed as a non-emergency
• The proposed passage of the 2023 Operating Budget Recommendation Resolution to be passed as an emergency
• The proposed passage of the 2023 Operating Budget Recommendation Resolution to be passed as a non-emergency

At a press conference Friday afternoon, Fairchild and Turner-Sloss discussed further their reasoning behind abstaining from the vote.

Turner-Sloss said there were seven days between when the proposed budget became public and when the commission was set to vote on it as an emergency ordinance.

“The public did not have time to sufficiently vet it,” Turner-Sloss said.

>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: City commissioners release statement after abstaining from budget vote

Fairchild, who voted against the 2021 budget, claimed that this year’s budget did not act sufficiently as a “good steward” of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funds. Additionally, he said it did not invest sufficiently in the improvement of the city’s neighborhoods and youth.

On Thursday, Mims said that there was no indication that Fairchild and Turner-Sloss would oppose the budget during the meeting.

If a budget is not approved between now and the end of the year, the City of Dayton would be forced to shut down on January 1. If an agreement is not reached, this would be the first time that the City of Dayton would possibly shut down.

We’ll continue to provide updates to this story. We’ll also have more on this tonight on News Center 7 starting at 5 p.m.

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