Mayor's meeting

Today, the mayor of Stamford met with the employees to talk about the budget.
The low down -
The mayor did not want this, disagreed with it and now has to deal with things that are handed to him.
His budget would have called for a zero % increase, except that the city is responsible for the current underfunding of the pension and that would have come fto a 1.41% increase.
The rest comes from the board of ed (and all those very high paid administrators!) italics are mine!
The board of finance cut the salary account, removing the negotiated extension of the current contract (3%) from that line. They also removed any step increases for newer employees.
Stamford Advocate said you have to make $70,000 per year to live here. I do not think one of these people in that room (the cafeteria) make that much).
The reason for this decision maybe found in a feud between the board of representatives and the board of finance. Apparently the Board of Finance does not have the right to refuse contract negotiations, only recommend or not a negotiated settlement. They did not recommend this extension of the contract, the board of representatives approved it, so they did what they had the power to do, cut the budget to get their way.
I still find the method disgusting, they don't talk to the Unions, they are 3 men who basically said to the board of representatives(I think in Stamford it is 12 people), forget you, we want it our way.
I find this petty at best.
I understand the mayor came across looking very good today.