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Better Budgets, ROADS, & More

Our Budgeting process is a mess. Our roads are a mess. Coincidence?

If Budgeting was a game. the current approach would make sense.

Is This Any Way to Build a Budget? A-changin' All the Time?

The Current Budgeting Process or And You May Ask Yourself, "How did we get here?"

I have no idea when, why, or by whom our current budgeting process was created. Here's how things are done now:

In July or August, Department Heads begin looking at what they expect to need for the coming year. Then they are given a list of 'expectations' from the Mayor and expected to adjust their budgets to meet them. The Mayor then takes all those budgets, goes over them, and adjusts them based on what he wants to accomplish. (A Tax Cut maybe, or Parks Development, or Who Knows?) Then the Mayor presents his budget to Council and Council refers it to the Finance Committee. The Committee combs through the whole thing again. At this point Committee members adjust the budget to fit their priorities. Department Heads that haven't been warned off by the Mayor may appear before the Committee to get parts of their budgets restored. Then when it comes before Council in November (that's almost 5 months into the process), any Council members may yet again ask to amend the budget. And after all this, the Mayor can still veto the budget.

Got that? Department Heads => Mayor => Council => Finance Committee => Possible Appeals from Department Heads => Council => Possible Veto by Mayor

It's a system that guarantees nobody really knows what's in the thousands of lines of the final budget. Who does that benefit? Not you. It's a system that guarantees nobody feels responsible for the final product. Who does that serve? Not you.

An End to Budget Battles?

There is a better way.

I will take an entirely different, more public, and more accessible, approach to The City Budget. For the start of September, the Council would be asked to give the City departments some clear and prioritized goals for the coming year. Then, over the next two months, City departments, including the Mayor's office, would present their proposed budgets to the Council at public meetings. The Council would then take those and adjust as they choose. By cutting out the Middle Man (the Mayor's Budget) we create a faster and more transparent budgeting process.

So now it would go:

Council Guidelines => Department Heads & Mayor => Council/Finance Committee => Possible Veto by Mayor

I know some people will miss the good old days of the Mayor and the Council making a game out of the annual budget with all the sniping and blaming each other for the final product, but think what we get instead-

Less Conflict

Less Controversy

More Collaboration

More Clarity

Our Bad Road Contest, "Save Our Streets," is Here! Share Your Bad Roads Now!

How many of these do you know so well you can avoid them in the dark?

How a Better Budget Process Can Lead to Better Roads

Establishing City Priorities Before Budgeting Begins

I know our roads are in poor shape because they haven't been a priority in our budgets. Budgets are lines and lines of what you are spending money on. It can be too easy to miss what's not there. Go back a take a look at a bunch of them. It's also easy to miss large multi-year issues when you are too focused on only one year's budget. This is why I plan to work with Council to establish the City's big multi-year goals.

4 years ago, I warned that the City can't keep kicking the can down road- and that those roads were falling apart. I was told that we couldn't afford to do more of them (see below). Then as now, the City spent a lot of money on other stuff, so the simple truth is the City chose not to budget the money to maintain our roads. We could have better roads today, but the Council and the Mayor chose otherwise.

If roads are set as a priority by the Council- and I will argue vigorously that they should be- the budget should reflect that. But I will do more than just suggest. One of my first goals as Mayor will be to get together with the Council and create a long-term roads plan. The County has one and it works. The City could have one too, if the Council was given the facts, asked what they wanted done about it, and had professionals help them create a plan and implement it in the budget.

Let's look at this simply. If we have about 350 miles of roads the City is responsible for and the Council wants to plan for a 35 year road life, we'd need to do about 10 miles a year. If you do about 5 miles per year, you must expect your roads to last 70 years. That's just Math.

350 Miles divided by 10 miles per year = 35 year life span
350 Miles divided by 7 miles per year = 50 year life span
350 Miles divided by 5 miles per year = 70 year life span
350 Miles divided by NO PLAN = ROADS FIXED TOO LATE, RANDOMLY, or PIECEMEAL

No matter what number of miles per year the Council sets, we are still better off with some kind of plan than with no plan at all. And, of course, we will still need to do repairs. We may also initially need a "catch up" to address all the work that been pushed off far too long. Planning together creates predictable costs which creates easier, better budgeting.

I won't pretend this will be easy or painless, but if we don't face this now, when will we? Besides, not fixing our roads is really a hidden tax on all of us. Click here to learn why.

Better Community Updates

Keeping You Informed and Up-to-Date

My plan on improving Community Updates is to be true to its name.

An Update is meant to keep you up-to-date with what's happening in the City. By doing this twice a month, I hope you'll know what is going on and what is coming up in a fairly brief update. Obviously, if something special (or a lot) is happening, we may need to do an extra Update to keep you apprised. But, what I look most forward to is the Community part of the Update.

I plan to have half of each Community Update focused on something happening or available in our community. Museums, Recreational Activities, Fine and Performing Arts opportunities, as well as possibilities to work with our many Civic Organizations will be featured. There is just so much to do and see here that it's easy to miss something that you might've really enjoyed. I know we have an abundance of spokespeople who would love to share more about one of their progress and passions.

I see the Community Update as being all about you-

What you need to know about your City, and
What you might want to know about your Community.

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