How about some productivity, too | Letters | July 29
July 28, 2011 · 3:46 PM
As expressed in last week’s article “New financial reality at city,” I found the views of the city manager and her financial assistant to be one-sided. The basic message was “revenues are down and don’t expect too much of us.”
Assistant City Manager Morgan Smith is quoted as saying part of the reason revenues are low is the community’s lack of “appetite” for big box development. (Tasty!) In fact, there’s a market reality to this absence of development: we don’t have the population base to support it.
Based on ratios elsewhere in Puget Sound, we would need eight times our population to attract a Target, 19 times for a Bed, Bath and Beyond, and 24 times for a Best Buy. We are an island with a small population and such development is not an option.
The article uses the word “revenue” 16 times, but not once does it use the words “expense” or “cost.” Yes, revenues are down, and we better have our goals and priorities straight, but shouldn’t the staff be looking at that other word that is so often missing from these discussions – “productivity?”
Let’s hear how they plan to get more from what we already spend.
Rod Stevens
Bainbridge Island
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