Mayor wants to grant more power to La Crosse dept. heads

City council will vote on change next week

More power to department heads in city hall means less for the city council. 

That’s not the stated intent of a proposal from La Crosse mayor Tim Kabat, but he does want department heads to have more autonomy to make financial decisions rather than have to get minor budget changes approved by the council on a regular basis.

As long as they’re meeting their bottom line, says Kabat, why not?

“That’s really what we’re asking out professionals to do is to manage day to day operations and keep within their budgets,” Kabat said.

The city council will have to approve the change. That could happen beginning with meetings that start next week.