Municipal Budget
It’s been an arduous 4 mos for Finance Committee, and they’ve very worked hard to balance the budget. Unfortunately we did not add up the pieces before starting, and simply plunged down the path of “business as usual.”
Every possible tactic was employed to control our existing platform. Some of which don’t pass common business sense, like spending capital on operating expense instead of infrastructure.
Even so our combined ‘07 property tax bill will average $13,535 per household, per this Estimator our CFO helped design for us.
That’s up 8% from last year, unbroken from the trajectory we’ve been running at for ten years now. It will drive senior citizens and young working class families out of town.
I’m sorry, Mr. President, but this is no longer acceptable. As a fulltime Councilman I frequently visit other “best practice” communities in New Jersey. Each trip shows me new ways to re-engineer City Hall workflow, downsize local government, and run Summit like the big business it is.
Citizens have very high expectations of us, which are not presently met. Service levels can improve, and costs must be brought down.
This will require a fundamental strategic fix, not just a series of tactical line-item adjustments. I am excited about our new CAO because he thinks outside the box.
We’re overdue for some tough tradeoff decisions, like discontinuing a line of business that belongs in the private sector. And managing our balance sheet with accurate property valuations. The budget before you tonight just delays the inevitable.
Please record my vote tonight as an admission of failure. We have not yet made local government affordable.
Could we at least agree that the right number a year from now is $14,000 per household, and start working backwards immediately on ‘08? That would force us to confront reality, send a strong signal to our Board of School Estimate for example that 3% merit increases are all Summit can afford.
Tom's Current Agenda
Smaller
Government
Recycling
Public Art
No Freight Trains
Downtown
Economy
Municipal Budget
Taxes
Traffic