The Richmond City Council is headed for another courtroom clash with Mayor L. Douglas Wilder over power.

The council will vote Monday on Wilder, seeking a court ruling on whether its budget or his is in effect, Council President William J. Pantele said after a 100-plus minute, closed-door meeting last night.

Asked if he thought if the council would approve suing Wilder, Pantele, glum-faced, said: "Yes, I expect so."

"There's no comment from the mayor's office at this time," said press secretary Linwood Norman.

Two council members, E. Martin Jewell and Reva M. Trammell, stalked out of the closed-door meeting roughly 10 minutes after it ended.

Both brushed off questions about why they left and whether there was rift on the council. The two are Wilder's closest allies on the council.

Wilder has said his budget is what the city is now operating under, arguing that the council version is invalid because two revenue measures were voted on after the May 31 deadline for the council to enact a budget.

The council, backed by an opinion from City Attorney Norman Sales, says Wilder is wrong because the two measures involved spending cuts for the fiscal year ended June 30, not revenue for the current fiscal year, which started July 1. Those cuts affected the balance of funds from which the current budget started, and that revised balance was reflected in the budget the council enacted in late May, they said.

"The mayor is just erroneous," Pantele said, adding that Wilder's understanding of the spending cuts and the basics of government accounting is wrong.

"I think the council just wants to do what is right," Council Vice President Delores L. McQuinn said.
Contact David Ress at (804) 649-6051 or dress@timesdispatch.com.