Heated meeting brings Mandeville City Council closer to budget approval

Moving closer to the end of a long and grueling budget drafting process, the Mandeville City Council Thursday night cut more than $300,000 from the city administration's spending plan for the coming year. The council's action, taken at the beginning and end of a long and heated meeting, was designed to balance the operating budget for the upcoming year and alleviate the need to dip into the city's surplus money.

The cuts included about $91,000 the administration had budgeted to hire a CPA to bolster the city's finance department.