Lawrenceburg City Council approved a stop-gap funding measure, its third, Monday, June 4, after another contentious meeting.

A work meeting may be set before the next regular council meeting to hash out the status of the city’s municipal development fund and riverboat fund budgets. Versions of both were presented as additional appropriations Monday by Eric Reedy, and public hearings held for both, but council tabled any decision.

The revised budgets would provide about $5.5 million which could be used for city property tax refunds, as proposed at a May 14 council meeting.

But Lawrenceburg Deputy Clerk-treasurer Theresa Bruening said the additional appropriations and public hearing were advertised incorrectly as being from the clerk-treasurer as the city’s fiscal officer. Clerk-treasurer Jackie Stutz did not authorize the legal ad, said Bruening.

Rather, the ad should have stated it was from the common council, said Bruening.

Councilman Bill Bill Bruner said he has an issue with how and when line items in the budget were cut.
“I, as a councilman, have a right to know where these millions of dollars came from,” he said. A council meeting to review those line items is missing, and the public was never invited, said Bruner.