As the “strong mayor” issue rages on, the Sacramento City Council is also examining a significant proposal from voters to set up an independent budget analyst's office.

The council asked city staffers Tuesday to prepare a workshop to explain how an office for the independent budget analyst could possibly be consolidated with the city’s internal auditor office.

City Treasurer Russ Fehr wrote in an Aug. 25 report that the independent budget analyst would report to the City Council and offer suggestions for changes separate from the city’s budget office. The city is looking at an office of three full-time employees. About $500,000 would pay for the employees‘ salaries, equipment, supplies and services.

“On behalf of the City Council, the independent budget analyst could provide detailed research and analysis including the preparation of reports with specific recommendations that are in addition to, or an analysis of, the work completed by the budget office on behalf of the mayor or city manager,” Fehr wrote.

The independent budget analyst office proposal is simultaneously linked with and separate from the proposal for a strong mayor in Sacramento. It’s linked to the strong mayor proposal because the Sacramentans for Accountable Government group created both proposals and put them before voters in the form of petitions. Each proposal received enough signatures to meet the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters’ requirements.

Both proposals can now be placed on the ballot. The City Council decided Aug. 6 to place the strong mayor proposal on the June 8, 2010 ballot. While the City Council could decide to add the independent budget analyst office to the ballot, it could also pass an ordinance to set up the office.

The independent budget analyst is separate from the strong mayor proposal because the budget analyst office would be developed through an ordinance, Fehr explained in a phone interview. The strong mayor format cannot be set up through an ordinance because the city’s governance structure is established in the city charter, he noted. The city charter must be changed in order for Sacramento’s mayor to gain new powers.

Fehr wrote that the independent budget analyst office could be paid for in two pieces: $370,000 would come from the city’s general fund, while $130,000 would come from special funds. The position could also lead to future savings for the city, according to Fehr.

“In addition, the initial budget could be based on an assumption that alternative view of the budget and the fiscal impacts of agenda items would result in cost reductions at least equal to the cost,” Fehr’s report noted.

Fehr clarified that a strong mayor controversy that arose during Tuesday night’s City Council meeting would not affect the proposal for the independent budget analyst position.

A controversy had bubbled over an opinion in a confidential memo from City Attorney Eileen Teichert. The memo said that Mayor Kevin Johnson should not have weighed in on the strong mayor item on Tuesday’s City Council agenda. Teichert said at the meeting that Johnson has a conflict of interest on the issue because he loaned Sacramentans for Accountable Government $25,000 in June. Johnson backs the strong mayor initiative.

As a result, Teichert recommended that Johnson recuse himself from the discussion.

“I think the opinion was made in error,” Johnson said in response to Teichert’s recommendation. “I will not recuse myself from this item.”

Johnson sat through the discussion, which changed course and was centered on Johnson’s alleged conflict of interest and the legal concerns of the council members. The City Council asked Teichert to take her opinion to the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission to see if Johnson is in conflict. The council hopes to hear back from the FPPC on the issue in two weeks.

But Tuesday’s strong mayor controversy and the independent budget analyst proposal are not tied together, according to Fehr.

“Again, they’re entirely separate issues on separate tracks,” Fehr said.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.