Nice post Erik. Mayor Rybak and the City Council do deserve credit for their sincere efforts to get their arms around the budget woes inherited from the past administration. And, as you said, >Thank you to R.T. and Paul, Paul, Joe, Barb, Natalie, Dean, Lisa, Robert, >Gary, Dan, Scott, Sandy and Barret. Keep it up. I second that emotion. Thanks also to Michelle Mensing for drawing Barret Lane into the list conversation on budget issues.
Barret Lane's budgeting efforts are greatly appreciated and his brief summary statement as to the overall objective is on the mark: "Bring property-tax supported expenditures, including past deficits, into line with reasonably available revenues by 2010 while at the same time preserving as much of the current service level in core city businesses as possible". However, past experience indicates that it is always easier said than done, given the dynamics of the situation. Council member Lane's budget modeling efforts have been presented in many dog and pony shows over the past year-plus, and I've seen people's eyes glaze over-- but he has persisted, and he has laid out the dimensions of the problem for all to see and critique, and made framing a solution possible. Thanks Barret! The Council's 8 percent levy limit sets agreed upon constraints for decision making purposes, i.e. resource allocation. Success will require extreme cooperation and dedication to the planning process from the Mayor, all City Council members and all elected members of the Library and Park Boards, both now and for many years to come-- in non-election years and election years as well. It's also important that the general public understand that a workable process is being implemented. It's also up to the general public, the voters, to keep the pressure on our elected leaders to see that the process is followed and our budget woes resolved in a reasonable period of time (or the interest charges will kill us). Thanks to all, including city staffers supporting the effort. Michael Hohmann Linden Hills > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of > Erik Riese > Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2002 9:16 AM > To: Mpls list > Subject: [Mpls] Budget planning and cries of "Crisis" snip > Vickie has brought up another interesting thread. > > Its instructional to look back at the previous budget processes and how > they played out. If I remember correctly, the Mayor and the > Councilmembers from the 2nd and 5th Wards would work with the Mayor's > staff starting in August (September?) to come up with a budget. The > Mayor would make a budget address in October or November and the other > Councilmembers would have between three and six weeks to respond to it. > Citizen input was nonexistent and we were lucky if we could even find a > copy of the proposal before the final Council vote in December. > > The new Council and Mayor have been involving citizens in a budget > process that is closely interwoven with Focus Minneapolis since > February. What a refreshing change. Would Vickie even have been able to > warn of a "Crisis" were it not for the new level of openness in policy > and budgetary processes at City Hall? > > Barret Lane's explanation of the many advances in planful budgeting at > the City is really a testament to the Mayor, his staff and the City > Council's use of their mandate for change. > > One example of this change is the ongoing participation at the > neighborhood level. In Seward, we've had monthly attendance by both > Councilmembers Schiff and Zerby. In August, Councilmember Schiff > presented a detailed report on the budgeting progress and potential > impacts on homeowners, renters and businesses. I don't remember getting > similar briefings from either of the previous Councilmembers. > > If you don't know by now, the City faces a gigantic hangover from the > spending binge of previous Council decisions. snip > Thank you to R.T. and Paul, Paul, Joe, Barb, Natalie, Dean, Lisa, Robert, > Gary, Dan, Scott, Sandy and Barret. Keep it up. > -- > In cooperation, > Erik Riese > snip _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
