Change in spending notification approved by McDonough council

The McDonough City Council voted at its Aug. 17 regular meeting to approve a measure regarding how changes in city spending are handled.

The motion by Sandra Vincent stipulated that the mayor and council must be notified if an approved city project is adopted by adoption of a budget or some other action. The issue when Vincent questioned Mayor Billy Copeland’s assertion that work was delayed on virtually all of this year’s scheduled capital projects because of a budget deficit that still required $1.8 million in city reserves to make right.

Vincent alleged that this was done without the council’s knowledge, while Copeland maintained that all budget committee decisions were announced publicly and the entire council, including Vincent, votes to approve the budget with the changes.