Mayor Rybak: Thank you for asking our opinions about the budget!
Please-please-please do NOT cut Police. Please-please-please DO cut CPED!!! They clearly have cash to spare, which is dangerous and ridiculous in this time of dwindling funds for the city. Furthermore, anyone who has ever done business with CPED (or MCDA, as they used to be known) will likely attest that it is an inefficient, if not blatantly wasteful bureaucracy. I challenge you and the members of Mpls City Council to explain to us why CPED needs so much more money than the Police, particularly when we are talking about cutting Police in a period of what seems to be increasing crime and violence in this city. Thank you, Connie Nompelis West Phillips --- "Rybak, R.T." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I want to put this morning's news regarding the > police five year > plan into context. > > I do not want to cut positions in the police > department. I want > to add positions, especially by hiring new recurits > who relect the > makeup of the city. > But when I, or anyone else, says simply they want > spend more in > one area, make sure you ask us where we will > cut....because a city that > has built up debt for far too long needs to keep > coming to terms with > some very uncomfortable financial reality. That's > what I will be doing > between now and early August when I present my > budget. I'm wide open to > ideas...we need all the brainpower we can get right > now. > > We have dramatically fewer resources because of a > number of > factors, including long term debt, massive state aid > cuts, rapidly > rising health care, pension funds that are gobbling > up huge chunks of > the budget and a recession that has decreased the > value of commercial > property. > While all this has happened, the state passed a > property tax > redistribution that shifted the burden from > commercial property onto > residential. This, plus the commercial value drop > above, has meant big > increases in property tax on homes, making it much > harder to raise > property taxes on already overburdened homeowners. > The phase out of > limited market value makes it even more difficult to > raise property > taxes. > > The bad news is that because of these factors above > we don't > have as much discretionary money. The good news is > that all the work we > have done on long term planning is giving us a > clearer picture of the > challenge, and starting to give us some tools to use > to get out of the > hole. Unlike three years ago, we now have a five > year financial > framework passed by the mayor and council designed > to work us out of the > hole dug by years of debt and, based on those > numbers we now have every > department in the city required to develop a five > year budget and five > year business plan. > The police budget you read about in the paper this > morning, or > the Health Department presention yesterday some of > you may have seen on > cable, are parts of that process. The department > heads were to build > their long term strategies around the numbers in the > five year financial > direction. The results aren't pretty, as you can > see in the police plan > and the health department plan.....but they are the > first step we need > to understand the implications. You will continue > to see these very > stark picutres as each business plan comes forward > but it is much better > for the public to learn about the implications in a > very public way, see > what it means over a long period of time...instead > of having it sprung > on people in each budget. > > I was also very pleased the most significant part > of the police budget > had to do with deployment issues: how do we use > officers more > effectively because, no matter how much money we > have, we are safer if > the officer is spending more time on the street. > As that business plan > is presented...it comes before Executive Committee > and Public Safety > tomorrow--- it will be very helpful to have input > from citizens about > these ideas, and other input about things not in the > plan that could be > added. > > I also want to make it clear we aren't just > accepting the > situations. I'm working almost exclusvively on > budgets issues, as are > the people in our budget office, and many other > parts of the city...and > that work will come out in August when I present my > budget. > > Here are a couple things we are doing to address > the long term > structural issues that are hurting our financial > situation. > > First, on health care, when we saw forecasts of > these costs > going up 20% percent for years to come, we worked > with our unions to > restructure the system to lead to significant > savings. > Second on pensions, we are about to appoint a high > level > advisory group with deep background in this area to > develop some key > recommendations for restructuring. This is going to > require cooperation > with our pensioneers, and the legislature. You will > be hearing more > about this in coming times. > Third, on the long term debt that I referenced > above, one of the > key drivers is the Internal Service Fund, which the > five year financial > direction attempts to pay off. > > These, and a number of other initiatives were > received very well > by the bond ratings agencies we met with a couple > months back...and I'm > pleased to say that they continued to keep the > city's ratings, a > significant achievement in these times. > > With that context, I'm very interested in hearing > thoughts about > how we should address all this. No idea to too out > there...we need all > the creative thinking we can get. > > R.T. Rybak > REMINDERS: > 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the > list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing > it on the list. > 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > > For state and national discussions see: > http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html > For external forums, see: > http://e-democracy.org/mninteract > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic > Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: > http://e-democracy.org/mpls > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
