Budget Talking Point (1)–It’s the Economy’s Fault
September 6, 2009 1 Comment
The City’s budget problems are not the fault of the bad economy (actually the worst recession since the Great Depression). They are the fault of the Commission and the City Manager who thought we would always have good times without regard for the certain coming bad times.
Even a return to “normal” times (no real estate bubble and gradual economic growth) would have triggered a crisis. The City’s budget watershed would have happened soon or later–it just so happens that the economic crash caught the City off guard. What counts is the balance between the taxpayers’ capacity-to-pay and the City’s capacity-to-spend. That balance would have been broken now or later.
About Stephen E. McGaughey
We the citizens have allowed OUR commissioners to institute insane pension policies and pay system. We have allowed a bloated staffing and compensation at city hall to continue regardless of performance or the economic realities. We need revisions starting at the foundation – we do NOT need lifers in neither elected nor for hire positions. It’s a recipe for disaster which is exactly what we currenly have.