Posts
Dallas Morning News city hall reporter Rudolph Bush has a story in today's editions concerning the budget crisis at City Hall. Unfortunately (because most people don't read news stories all the way through to the end) his most important words are the last ones in his story: "...most officials agree that closing a gap greater than $100 million is likely to require either a tax increase or painful cuts that both residents and city employees will feel."
Oh, what to do!!! To the surprise of absolutely no one, I have a solution. I would like City Manager Mary Suhm to get her staff to put together a menu of city services options she believes the city needs, wants and/or could use. I'm not talking about the essentials like basic police, fire, sanitation services, etc. I'm talking about those that might be in line for "painful cuts" or those Ms. Suhm feels the city should have. Then, just like the menu you find at any restaurant, you put the cost of that service alongside it, in terms of tax-per-$100,000-valuation, or however it's determined.
Then you have the various city council members call town hall meetings, where these menus are distributed to those attending and an assistant city manager explains the options of everything listed on the menu as well as the implications of including it or excluding it in the next budget. Each item contains a box alongside it and those attending are asked to check what services they want and leave the box blank for those they don't want, knowing that those they check could increase their property taxes as indicated. Then you collect all that information and begin planning your budget knowing that constituents told you they were willing to pay for some services, but not others.
I think the council members might be surprised to learn what their constituents might be willing to cough up a couple extra dollars for. But the important thing here is to give the people a voice, let us tell you what we want and what we want to pay for, instead of you telling us.
Oh, what to do!!! To the surprise of absolutely no one, I have a solution. I would like City Manager Mary Suhm to get her staff to put together a menu of city services options she believes the city needs, wants and/or could use. I'm not talking about the essentials like basic police, fire, sanitation services, etc. I'm talking about those that might be in line for "painful cuts" or those Ms. Suhm feels the city should have. Then, just like the menu you find at any restaurant, you put the cost of that service alongside it, in terms of tax-per-$100,000-valuation, or however it's determined.
Then you have the various city council members call town hall meetings, where these menus are distributed to those attending and an assistant city manager explains the options of everything listed on the menu as well as the implications of including it or excluding it in the next budget. Each item contains a box alongside it and those attending are asked to check what services they want and leave the box blank for those they don't want, knowing that those they check could increase their property taxes as indicated. Then you collect all that information and begin planning your budget knowing that constituents told you they were willing to pay for some services, but not others.
I think the council members might be surprised to learn what their constituents might be willing to cough up a couple extra dollars for. But the important thing here is to give the people a voice, let us tell you what we want and what we want to pay for, instead of you telling us.
No comments:
Post a Comment