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Most every year, around this time, the mayor and the liberal/progressive faction of the council each publish dueling versions of how to spend the few dollars left over from the city’s fixed costs. 

But not this year. 

Mayor Shirley Dean says she is refusing to play the game. She will not write an alternative to the liberal/progressive budget. 

“First we need organization; we need restraint,” said the mayor, in a phone interview Wednesday. “There’s an absence of going to make these decisions? We are funding programs we know nothing about. 

“Somebody has to be the voice of reason.” 

Councilmember Linda Maio, the primary author of the liberal/progressive budget, said that by taking herself outside the deliberations, Dean is able to “take political potshots at the progressives.” 

The mayor, however, called the lineup of requesting organizations a “feeding frenzy.” The council needs to know more precisely what its money is buying, she said. 

That is not to say that the needs are not great nor that the requests are not valid, Dean added. 

Dean challenged the liberal/progressive budget, claiming it ignored the city’s commitment to moving the Public Safety Building antenna tower. She said it included items that should not be funded at all, such as giving $4,000 to the West Berkeley Association of Industrial Companies. 

“We have the largest, richest companies getting $4,000,” Dean said, contending that the association could easily get the funds from its membership. 

Maio argued, however, that the West Berkeley association is just getting started and needs the city’s help. These industries are especially important because they are “targeted for displacement by dot com groups,” she said. 

Maio further contended that the mayor knows the value of most the recommended expenditures. She pointed in particular to the $35,000 set aside for meals for low-income seniors at Strawberry Lodge, the $62,000 that would go to double the arts grants budget, and the $70,000 dedicated to a volunteer coordinator for the animal shelter. 

The mayor need not question whether the money is well spent, Maio said. “Staff has an oversight role. We don’t just hand out money.”