City

Mayor responsible for financial woes

It’s official: the city finance director is projecting that the city will go $4 million in the hole this year, a loss of almost one in every six dollars of the taxes, fees, grants and loans taken in. Unless the city issues councilmanic debt (what an apt name!), the city will burn through almost all of its cash by the end of 2008, leaving us in a liquidity crisis.

When the mayor came into office six years ago, the city had three and a half months of operating cash on hand. When she was re-elected in 2006, the city had one and a half months. Unless the council issues debt or makes extremely deep cuts, by the end of this year this cash will be down to four days.

The city will have to take on long-term debt to cover this year’s losses, for there isn’t enough time left this year to make up for the overspending. In the year 2028, some citizen will wonder why they are still making debt service payments on this year’s spending.

Some will blame the council for this situation, but it’s the mayor who is responsible, for under our “strong mayor” form of government she runs the operation day to day.

It will probably take the shock of having to issue debt to cover operating losses to get our spending under control. But we can start thinking now about how to avoid this situation in the future. One thing we should be thinking about is a change in the form of government, away from a form that puts day-to-day control in the hands of an amateur who refuses to change course while steering for the rocks. You can give yourself the option of considering this change by signing the petition to put this question on the ballot. And you can let council members know that you want them to step up and exercise the same prudence over city finances that they show over their own.

Rod Stevens

Oddfellows Road