A "Balanced" Smoke Screen

The Tuesday Council agenda about a balanced budget may sound great on the surface, but here are the details that you, the public, should be aware of.

Let’s be clear. The City of Marina has a structural deficit. In fact, two years ago it was about 4 million dollars annually. However, our citizens did their part and voted to tax themselves to cover about half the deficit (Measures M & N). It was up to our City Council to do the rest. Since that time, not one dime of new revenue has been raised by this City Council.

Instead, this Council majority has tried to balance the budget on City employees’ backs - all its employees. A multitude of opportunities were presented to this Council to approve new revenues, but - in each and every case - the Council could/would not deliver. Prime example: why not review the recommendations of Councilman O’Connell’s own budget advisory committee from two years ago.

So now Councilman O’Connell has raised the issue of a balanced budget resolution: a great campaign issue.  But Councilman O’Connell forgets he does not need a resolution to accomplish this goal: Simply bring in new revenue or make the hard choices to cut the City’s core services. He has had this opportunity for the past three budgets, yet the Council has continued to approve “out of balance” budgets and draw down on its reserve funds.

The resolution requires proportional budget cuts. If public safety is 80% of the budget, then 80% of the cuts need to come from public safety- per his resolution. Instead of the Council deciding what to cut, he is mandating the City Manager recommend them; however, the Council can restore any spending by a super-majority vote. This process will not avoid endless straw votes - rather it will just reverse their direction. Instead of voting to cut, they will vote to restore this or that position or program.

My suggestion to Councilmembers:  rather than waste staff time by creating the resolution, doing the research and changing the municipal code, simply ask the City Manager, prior to the typical budget cycle, to submit the budget to council, in whatever form desired - balanced or not. Then make hard decisions necessary to accomplish the goal with full public transparency and participation.

More later