The most difficult budget season in recent memory is over for the Auburn City Council, but that should not bring an end to the hard work.
The budget approved by councilors on Tuesday - which preserves government jobs and raises taxes by 5 percent - is more of a bandage than a permanent solution to the city's financial struggles. The projected deficit can be closed under this plan (though some doubt how the numbers have been crunched to make all of this work), but if there is to be true financial stability, Auburn cannot escape making some substantial changes in its structure.
But for those changes to happen, the work on a restructuring plan needs to start now - as in tonight's council meeting. And it needs to continue throughout the summer until some concrete changes have been put in place.
One of the more encouraging aspects of this budget season was to see individual councilors come up with some detailed ideas of their own. Unfortunately, they were doing it mostly under the pressure of a budget crisis, and many of their proposals simply did not have the time to be executed in time for this budget season.
That does not mean they should now be abandoned until the spring of 2007.
We probably don't have enough information gathered to know which proposals make the most sense. Maybe Mayor Tim Lattimore's plan to create a public safety commissioner could work. Perhaps Councilor Bill Graney's proposal to streamline the city's engineering, public works and municipal utilities departments has merit.
One thing is certain - Auburn's government is too big for the tax base trying to support it.
That classic excuse of the past two months - we don't have the time to make a change like that - is no longer valid.
It's time for councilors to prove that summers are not a time to relax at city hall.
But for those changes to happen, the work on a restructuring plan needs to start now - as in tonight's council meeting. And it needs to continue throughout the summer until some concrete changes have been put in place.
One of the more encouraging aspects of this budget season was to see individual councilors come up with some detailed ideas of their own. Unfortunately, they were doing it mostly under the pressure of a budget crisis, and many of their proposals simply did not have the time to be executed in time for this budget season.
That does not mean they should now be abandoned until the spring of 2007.
We probably don't have enough information gathered to know which proposals make the most sense. Maybe Mayor Tim Lattimore's plan to create a public safety commissioner could work. Perhaps Councilor Bill Graney's proposal to streamline the city's engineering, public works and municipal utilities departments has merit.
One thing is certain - Auburn's government is too big for the tax base trying to support it.
That classic excuse of the past two months - we don't have the time to make a change like that - is no longer valid.
It's time for councilors to prove that summers are not a time to relax at city hall.
