City Commissioners are Ignoring History

I cite here a recent post in the Economist that shows how long it might take for the US economy to return to full employment.  You may read it there but the numbers are not encouraging.

And at the rates generally experienced over the past two decades, full employment would seem to be somewhere between 5 years and more than 10 years away.

…it could be 5 to 8 years before banks sell off their entire stock of foreclosed upon housing inventory.

…we have a problem here beyond the sheer pain of the slow expected recovery—this recovery might run headlong into the next recession.

If I had anything to recommend to the Commissioners of the City of Coral Gables is to expect many months and years of economic stagnation, little or no real estate investments and taxpayers too burdened by the pattern of year-by-year property tax and fee increases.

It is time for real austerity, if this is surely proven by the Biltmore Hotel situation and persistent declining property values.

Budget and Taxes Again–2010-2011

We are back to the annual budget cycle of the City of Coral Gables.  It is certain that the process by the City Commissioners will look something like this:

• There will be a lot of talk from the City Manager about eliminating jobs, but these jobs will mostly be for low paying staff, and no hint of reducing senior staff or deep reorganizations of one or more offices;
• It is said that City capital spending will be reduced (although that could have been done last year before all of the spending on the Museum);
• The City Commissioners will repeat in chorus, “We can’t touch public security”, even though one of the big groups of overpaid, high pension employees are police and fire workers;
• Mr. Kerdyk will go through a period of public suffering and anguish while trying to decide on an increase in taxes (he will be the crucial vote to increase taxes), Mr. Cabrera will stand for “no more taxes” and Commissioners Anderson, Withers and Mayor Slesnick will stand firm for the “quality of life” (meaning more taxes at any cost);
• Numerous taxpayers will testify in public before the Commission that we, the taxpayers, can’t resist more taxes because of the recession (of course, to no avail); and why hasn’t the City fixed it well known staffing, Biltmore payment, pension problems; and then
• The City Commission will pass larger fees and more taxes.

With this the annual political play ends here.