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Out on the stump this spring, the mayor had a great talking point about fiscal responsibility. When we were working on the budget, he'd say, we came up with a 13-page “stop doing” list of programs to cut and not a single resident complained.
If no one complained, why did we stop at 13 pages?
Well, anyway, once again Fort Collins is facing a budget deficit, so it's on to page 14.
If only it were that simple. Instead, here's what's going to happen:
(Go ahead: Clip this column, post it on your refrigerator, and watch these predictions unfold over the coming months.)
Step one: The city will declare a looming budget deficit. (Obviously, we're already past step one. Let's note, however, that budget deficits are inevitable when your retail sales tax base can’t support your government programs. In other words, this is what happens when you shrink your tax base and drive business into the arms of Timnath in a down economy.)
Step two: The city staff will produce a package of budget “cuts” to match the deficit number. Of course, not all of the “cuts” will be cuts. Rather, the package will include a few cuts, a “fee,” and some sort of tax hike.
The cuts will be designed to hit high-profile programs with the most sympathetic constituencies. If there's a program that everyone loves, it will be on the list.
The fees will be marketed as going toward a specific program, but if you pay attention to the fine print, the money will actually be slated for the general fund as a way to balance the budget.
The tax hikes will come by way of a referendum asking the voters to approve a new tax to pay for the most sympathetic line item in the general fund.
Step three: The wailing and gnashing of teeth will begin.
So there you go. Follow along as this unfolds over the next few months. When all is said and done, you'll find yourself asking: How did Andrew know all of this?
Easy. It's exactly what happened the last time we faced a deficit.
Cuts to the most sympathetic programs? The last time this happened, the proposed cuts included closing the bathrooms in the city parks, eliminating recreation scholarships for underprivileged kids, closing the library one day a week and eliminating night time Dial-A-Ride.
A fee that's not really a fee? The last time this happened, the City Council considered a “transportation maintenance fee.” It was marketed as a fee on transportation to raise money for transportation, but it was actually just a per-home tax (you didn't even need to own a car to be eligible) and the money wasn't earmarked for, you know, transportation. It was slated to be dumped into the general fund.
A ballot referendum to create a new tax? The last time this happened, the City Council referred the library district to the ballot. By creating the new tax to pay for the libraries, a huge chunk of the general fund was suddenly available and the budget was “balanced.” (We still paid the same amount to the government. More, actually.)
There are plenty of places to cut the budget, but it would take political courage to pull it off. We could stop hiring outside consultants. We could cut all of the city programs that spend our money to tell us the things that our mothers should have told us. (Does anyone have any idea how much we spend on brochures and posters to tell us how to be better citizens of the world?)
Finally, we could take a realistic look at the salaries and benefits of our city employees. Right now we compare Fort Collins employees to municipal employees in other cities. What would happen if we started comparing compensation to similar job descriptions in the private sector? Payroll is the single largest expenditure in the budget.
Instead, we'll likely see some sort of rehash of the last time we faced a deficit. Sometimes these things are predictable.
If no one complained, why did we stop at 13 pages?
Well, anyway, once again Fort Collins is facing a budget deficit, so it's on to page 14.
If only it were that simple. Instead, here's what's going to happen:
(Go ahead: Clip this column, post it on your refrigerator, and watch these predictions unfold over the coming months.)
Step one: The city will declare a looming budget deficit. (Obviously, we're already past step one. Let's note, however, that budget deficits are inevitable when your retail sales tax base can’t support your government programs. In other words, this is what happens when you shrink your tax base and drive business into the arms of Timnath in a down economy.)
Step two: The city staff will produce a package of budget “cuts” to match the deficit number. Of course, not all of the “cuts” will be cuts. Rather, the package will include a few cuts, a “fee,” and some sort of tax hike.
The cuts will be designed to hit high-profile programs with the most sympathetic constituencies. If there's a program that everyone loves, it will be on the list.
The fees will be marketed as going toward a specific program, but if you pay attention to the fine print, the money will actually be slated for the general fund as a way to balance the budget.
The tax hikes will come by way of a referendum asking the voters to approve a new tax to pay for the most sympathetic line item in the general fund.
Step three: The wailing and gnashing of teeth will begin.
So there you go. Follow along as this unfolds over the next few months. When all is said and done, you'll find yourself asking: How did Andrew know all of this?
Easy. It's exactly what happened the last time we faced a deficit.
Cuts to the most sympathetic programs? The last time this happened, the proposed cuts included closing the bathrooms in the city parks, eliminating recreation scholarships for underprivileged kids, closing the library one day a week and eliminating night time Dial-A-Ride.
A fee that's not really a fee? The last time this happened, the City Council considered a “transportation maintenance fee.” It was marketed as a fee on transportation to raise money for transportation, but it was actually just a per-home tax (you didn't even need to own a car to be eligible) and the money wasn't earmarked for, you know, transportation. It was slated to be dumped into the general fund.
A ballot referendum to create a new tax? The last time this happened, the City Council referred the library district to the ballot. By creating the new tax to pay for the libraries, a huge chunk of the general fund was suddenly available and the budget was “balanced.” (We still paid the same amount to the government. More, actually.)
There are plenty of places to cut the budget, but it would take political courage to pull it off. We could stop hiring outside consultants. We could cut all of the city programs that spend our money to tell us the things that our mothers should have told us. (Does anyone have any idea how much we spend on brochures and posters to tell us how to be better citizens of the world?)
Finally, we could take a realistic look at the salaries and benefits of our city employees. Right now we compare Fort Collins employees to municipal employees in other cities. What would happen if we started comparing compensation to similar job descriptions in the private sector? Payroll is the single largest expenditure in the budget.
Instead, we'll likely see some sort of rehash of the last time we faced a deficit. Sometimes these things are predictable.
