Council compromises on school cuts/layoffs
I am grateful that at last night’s city budget hearing, the council voted to fund the schools $800,000 more than the city manager’s original plan to cut $1.6 million. The council hopes to fund this adjustment by additional revenue that will come to the city if state legislators support the governor’s plan to tax telecommunications companies for use of public lands. For the schools, cutting another $800,000 from the school budget won’t be easy (reducing or reorganizing departments, leaving more positions unfilled etc), but it will not be as devastating or require as severe cuts to already lean staffing. The school department is in the process of examining its original budget to determine where to make those cuts so they will have the least impact on direct services to students, and a public hearing will be held to address those issues in the next few weeks.
Last night the council also reinstated seven of the 11 staff slated for layoff. Funding for this move will come from money the manager had set aside for salary adjustments with city unions. It is clear that finding the funds to make these compromises was not easy, particularly because of the council’s insistence on keeping the tax increase to a bare minimum. The 2.5% tax increase in this budget will cost taxpayers an average of $60 more a year. When I think about that number and how the costs for everything keep going up (I’m probably paying $60 more a month in gasoline alone.), I am reminded of a citizen who spoke at the hearing and suggested the council pledge no new taxes for 10 years. If our personal costs keep rising (clothes, groceries, utilities and heat) how can the cost for government services stay the same or even go down—especially when those services, such as our schools, police, fire and public works, are so essential to the quality of life in our community?