The good news is ... well, no, there isn't any good news. The bad news is Lincoln's budget gap for 2007-2008 is projected at $9 million. Yeouch. Most of the easy answers have already been used in earlier budget cycles, so Lincoln may have to pull out the heavy artillery in order to close the gap. That'll be especially interesting this year, an election year in which four City Council members are up for reelection and one is running for mayor. If anybody seriously proposes a tax hike, you can bet it won't be one of those five.
I suspect the bulk of proposed solutions will involve covering the $9 million with nickels and dimes across the budget. That's one way to go, but I don't think it's likely to be successful. Rather, I would like to see some proposals that sacrifice a sacred cow or two. Let's take a serious look at some vertical cuts. Axing entire programs or services is almost never popular, but by discussing the idea I think the community will get a better idea of where we stand. And if finding the $9 million in a few big chunks is too difficult to swallow, then we can go back to the nickel and dime idea. But let's not start there.
Comments
See what your friends and neighbors have to say about this.
Instead of just attacking it with cuts, they (we) need to figure out ways to increase the tax base, so there are more people contributing to the economy and the burden is spread further around.
* Make it easier for retailers and businesses to come to Lincoln and open for business. More sales = more tax dollars. More employees = more people shopping and paying taxes.
* Make it easier for people who build houses to do so. Enough with the “shortages” of lots and impact types of fees. More people = more shoppers and more people paying taxes.
* Is there duplication and redundancy and repetitiveness (get it?) between the city and county. Can’t we combine some things for cost savings and efficiencies?
* Encourage private investment for public uses—why not let a company put their name on a park or a playground or something—and foot the bill, so city dollars can be spent more on needs and less on wants. Let companies sponsor a mile of bike trails or a bunch of trees or something.
* Analyze every property in Lincoln and Lancaster County that is not on the tax rolls, and figure out if something is legitimate.
* Reward employees—even monetarily—if they can come up with ways to save tax dollars (too much of a mentality of “if we don’t use every penny of our budget this year, we won’t get as much next year.”
* Stop giving up dollars that you don’t have to in order to stimulate development. Sorry, but the north side of 48th and O would have been torn down and rebuilt without the city kicking in tons of dough.
* Cancel any and all contracts with EDM. (Sorry, that was too easy)
I’m sure there are tons of ideas other than cut all services and raise all taxes.
Instead of just attacking it with cuts, they (we) need to figure out ways to increase the tax base, so there are more people contributing to the economy and the burden is spread further around.
You’re correct. I got so wrapped up in thinking about cuts that I forgot to mention some of the points you made. We will need to practice our subtraction and addition skills (on different sides of the equation) to come up with $9 million. Thanks for correcting my omission.
No sweat—I just hope the people at City Hall can figure out that it takes addition AND subtraction. I wasn’t picking on you.
Just out of curiosity, are there any big-ticket/sacred cow items that we can predict will be on the chopping block?
Privatize ambulance service, for instance?
I’ll bet the city will go after increases in occupation taxes, parking rates, user fees, etc…
Subsidization of Pershing? (Ouch!)
Close a library (or two)?
This could be painful.
This could be painful.
I consider it entertainment. I love watching the Lincoln public interest groups get outraged when anyone mentions cuts to their beloved programs.
Idiotic projects like the Woods Park squirting water thing and the non-used traffic alert lights on O Street (what is it with that area of town attracting wasteful spending?) should be eliminated and never thought of again. Add to that any public arts project and ... well ... anything we don’t really need. Privatizing the ambulance service is a great idea, as well as closing some, maybe all, pools. I can’t wait to hear what the mayoral candidates have to say about this.
$9 million is a freakin’ crevasse, not a “gap.” How in the heck does that happen?
Share your thoughts with the community.
Commenting is no longer permitted on this post.