The 2017 budget for the city of Columbus was approved on second reading during Tuesday night’s meeting of the city council.

Prior to the vote, the city’s finance director, Jamie Brinegar, gave the administration’s response to a budget appeal filed by former Mayor Kristen Brown and 12 others. That appeal accused the city of not providing accurate budget information. Brinegar gave, what he called, an “apples-to-apples” comparison…

Brinegar says the group’s complaints aren’t valid…

Brinegar says that the budget process has been very transparent…

Petitioners objected to mentions of the previous administration as they say it wasn’t relevant to their complaint. The council voted 5-to-1 to accept the administration’s finding of fact in this case and then voted unanimously to approve the $54.3 million budget.

Once the budget was passed, on a unanimous vote, Mayor Jim Lienhoop read a prepared statement addressing the appeal and other actions taken against the city…

During the public comment period at the end of the meeting, Kristen Brown responded to Lienhoop: