The Williamson administration had reported a balanced budget for fiscal year 2005, 2006 and delivered a balanced budget for fiscal year 2007. The City of Flint received a national budget award for 2006. After he replaced the Budget Director, and the city began a downward spiral of "emergency spending", leading to the city finishing the 2007-08 fiscal year with an $8.3 million deficit, and likely staring at another multimillion-dollar deficit in 2009. In March 2009, projections were for the deficit to exceed 14 million dollars.