Auburn city manager John Salomone had asked that members of city council provide him, by Thursday, their suggestions for budget changes. He wanted to see their direct impact and/or find out what direction members of city council wanted him to go in after weeks of budget presentations, so that he could provide them options to vote on.
Early in the week, according to one official in the know, they started to trickle in. Most are said to either look like they were unworkable, unrealistic or too general.
And so begins the annual hemming and hawing of the city council now faced with a budget proposal that raises property taxes 8.9 percent and sewer rates by 18 percent. No one wants to vote for these types of increases - they could be politically deadly. But on the other hand, this is not a mayor and city council that is known for their willingness in doing the heavy lifting when it comes to the budget process.
Sure they want to talk and deliberate endlessly, as long as they don't have to make a decision that will adversely impact taxpayers, labor or any special interest. But to do so they have to do a specially choreographed two-step, which starts this week.
Thus, you can expect that the mayor and council, who want to say they are against such increases, will do a number of things to be able to make their cases politically. The first is likely to be suggesting some massive changes (i.e. close the landfill to save money, create a new ambulance service to raise revenue or privatize this or that).
While they may all sound logical, they will likely have several faults.
First and foremost, it means making operational changes within the next six weeks prior to the start of the city's fiscal year on July to realize a return on their suggestions. Logistics of implementation be damned. They will say this or that will solve the city's financial woes.
But if substantial and structural changes to city operations are to occur, they need to be discussed and processed long before a budget is drafted, so that they can be accurately forecasted into a budget before it is submitted to city council.
The second, and more important, item to remember is that it is easy to suggest cuts in a vacuum. The city's recent history is rife with those who have come in with massive lists of cuts, so that they could grandstand and sound like the taxpayer's friend, but couldn't get a second to their motion, let alone passage of what they want to do.
If councilors want to make suggestions for budget cuts, they need to be able to deliver their vote and two others - anything less is pure political theatrics.
The public needs to be skeptical of the two-stepping councilors.
Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn. He can be e-mailed atcozguytho@aol.com
And so begins the annual hemming and hawing of the city council now faced with a budget proposal that raises property taxes 8.9 percent and sewer rates by 18 percent. No one wants to vote for these types of increases - they could be politically deadly. But on the other hand, this is not a mayor and city council that is known for their willingness in doing the heavy lifting when it comes to the budget process.
Sure they want to talk and deliberate endlessly, as long as they don't have to make a decision that will adversely impact taxpayers, labor or any special interest. But to do so they have to do a specially choreographed two-step, which starts this week.
Thus, you can expect that the mayor and council, who want to say they are against such increases, will do a number of things to be able to make their cases politically. The first is likely to be suggesting some massive changes (i.e. close the landfill to save money, create a new ambulance service to raise revenue or privatize this or that).
While they may all sound logical, they will likely have several faults.
First and foremost, it means making operational changes within the next six weeks prior to the start of the city's fiscal year on July to realize a return on their suggestions. Logistics of implementation be damned. They will say this or that will solve the city's financial woes.
But if substantial and structural changes to city operations are to occur, they need to be discussed and processed long before a budget is drafted, so that they can be accurately forecasted into a budget before it is submitted to city council.
The second, and more important, item to remember is that it is easy to suggest cuts in a vacuum. The city's recent history is rife with those who have come in with massive lists of cuts, so that they could grandstand and sound like the taxpayer's friend, but couldn't get a second to their motion, let alone passage of what they want to do.
If councilors want to make suggestions for budget cuts, they need to be able to deliver their vote and two others - anything less is pure political theatrics.
The public needs to be skeptical of the two-stepping councilors.
Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn. He can be e-mailed atcozguytho@aol.com
