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January 17, 2008
IT’S TIME FOR THE CITY COUNCIL TO STOP TALKING; BUT PROVIDING SOME REAL LEADERSHIP IN SOLVING THE CITY'S BUDGET "STRUCTURAL DEFICIT"; WHICH IS THEIR MAKING
Although some of the Council members, (at last Friday’s Chamber sponsored “State of the City”), pledged not to place a sales tax issue on the November ballot (watch out for fees etc.), this was obviously an attempt to give some cover and protection to members who intend to run for an additional term this November.
At the meeting, little was said by any Council member that showed a real desire to attack the City’s Budget Structural Deficit, at this time. Although a small matter, I don’t recall any mention of how they were going tto patch the holes in our miles and miles of City streets.
The Council knows that the cost of salaries and benefits for City employees, to a great extent, is the primary cause of the Structural Deficit. They recently compounded any attempt to a solution to the Structural Deficit when they approved a new 6 year contract with the City’s Fireman; with substantial salary and benefit improvements over the next 5 years. They need to find a way to unwind this and other employee agreements in order to begin to solve the Structural Deficit. Playing around with other budget reductions are necessary, but simply will not come anywhere near resolving the Structural Deficit.
The Council may manage another year by scraping the bottom of the fund balances; but they need to get busy NOW to solve the long term budget problems.
Posted by Fred at January 17, 2008 03:57 PM
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