It took considerably longer than the 15 minutes allotted Tuesday evening for Bellevue Council to approve a 2010 budget, but officials worked together to come up with a balanced spending plan.

Already nearly a month late due to procedural errors, the budget was expected to be approved quickly in a special meeting on Jan. 26. Officials, however, arrived to find that no actual budget was attached to the ordinance they were voting on, and the latest version of the budget distributed to council did not match the earlier advertised summary, and was not, in fact, balanced.

Council members objected to the fact that the ordinance before them referred to attachments that were not actually attached. They had a summary of the budget, and a new draft of the budget dated Jan. 26.

"We don’t vote on a summary of a budget, we vote on a budget," said council member Jane Braunlich, who pointed out that the newest draft of the budget presented to council, dated Jan. 26, not only did not match up with the published summary, but contained a $29,000 deficit in the public works spending plan.

Council took a five minute recess to allow director of administrative services Connie Flasher to put together the necessary documents. That recess went on for more than an hour, however, while council members gathered in a corner of the chambers to address the discrepancies.

When they returned to session, council agreed to throw away the Jan. 26 draft and return to the Dec. 14 proposed budget that matched the summary, and to make several changes that balanced the public works section.

"It makes this right," council member Mark Helbling said of the changes.

"This was a really good team effort," said council member Linda Woshner, who chaired the meeting in the absence of president Kathy Coder. Woshner said that without the impromptu budget session, she doubted if the budget would have been approved that night.

The first and second readings of the ordinance adopting the revised budget were approved unanimously, with Coder and Lisa Blaney-Stewart absent. Council then voted to suspend the rules of council and vote on the ordinance on its third and final reading, something that has been the subject of considerable debate over the past year.

Council recently amended the borough's administrative code to require that the three readings of an ordinance be considered over at least two meetings. Treasurer Paul Cusick told council that if they did not approve the budget on all readings that night, non-contract employees could not be paid this Friday. The borough's home rule charter allows payment only of utilities and salaries to contract employees if a budget is not in place.

On the third reading of the ordinance, four members of council voted against adoption: Woshner, Braunlich, and James and Susan Viscusi, all arguing that the ordinance adoption should be put off until the regular council meeting.

The vote, however, actually served to defeat the budget adoption in its entirety. Council would be required to start the long process of advertising and adoption all over again. When informed of this by members of the audience, new solicitor Tom McDermott told council members that they could rescind all votes taken after the second reading approval. A motion to do just that was approved in a 6-1 vote with David Gillingham Jr. opposed.

Another motion to suspend the rules of council was approved, this one in a 5-2 vote with Braunlich and James Viscusi opposed. The final reading of the budget ordinance was approved in a 6-1 vote with Braunlich opposed.