The day after City Council members received a copy of his budget proposal, Mayor Chris Beutler began publicly plugging his spending blueprint.
DEENA WINTER / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, June 30, 2008 7:00 pm
The day after City Council members received a copy of his budget proposal, Mayor Chris Beutler began publicly plugging his spending blueprint.
His proposed 2008-2009 budget will be unveiled publicly on Sunday.
“We’re about to make a city-wide decision on what we spend and why,” Beutler said during a press conference Tuesday.
It’s decision time, he said, on whether to keep pools open, build roads and revitalize neighborhoods. He said the city has done what it can to find efficiencies, but has reached a point where “simply doing more with less” is increasingly difficult.
For example, he said last year’s cuts to the Law Department were “a cut too far” that left the department understaffed.
Beutler sent a message to the City Council — which must approve a municipal budget — that it can’t cut one city department without affecting others. For example, he said keeping libraries, rec centers and swimming pools open helps keep juvenile crime in check.
Police Chief Tom Casady said it’s important to keep urban decay at bay, because decay breeds crime. Having youth programs and pools open helps keep kids out of criminal trouble, he said.
Beutler seemed to be sending a message to the council and public that his spending plan is the way to go.
“We have the ability to put the budget problems behind us this year,” he said, but refused to comment on whether his solution is a property tax increase.
In order to come up with a balanced budget, he had to close a nearly $6 million budget shortfall. But if part of his solution is a property tax increase, he’ll have to sell that to a skeptical City Council. Four Republicans on the council have said they don’t plan to go along with a tax increase.
Councilman Ken Svoboda is one of them. He’s seen highlights of Beutler’s budget and said, “It’s not a pretty picture.”
“There’s some pretty deep cuts in there,” he said.
However, he said he doesn’t know of anybody who’s suggested closing pools. He said there are other ways to balance the budget.
He said most council members have been through enough budgets to know that cuts have ripple effects.
“ This is the mayor’s first budget of his own and I think he’s telling us things we already know,” he said.
Beutler said his budget ends the use of “gimmicks” to balance the budget — which he defines as using one-time revenue sources to plug budget holes.
Svoboda said that depends upon your definition of one-time money. For example, Beutler has propoed dipping into the Special Assessment Revolving Fund and using $8 million to create an economic development kitty. But Svoboda said you could recognize that money as a revenue stream, and use the interest income to create programs or fund gaps.
The City Council will work on the budget through August, when it must approval a final budget.
Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.