Governor Pawlenty and President Bush have handed down massive cuts to
St. Paul's budget, we've managed to scrape through by the skin of our
teeth. But as we've enacted the easy cuts and accounting tricks, the
choices are becoming harder and harder. So while it increasingly seems
the Mayor's term may end this year, the after-effects of his fiscal
philosophy will be with us for some time to come.
Here's a little secret: people's negative reaction to Kelly's
endorsement of Bush is actually a reaction to something much deeper.
To many, Kelly's record on funding everything from fire services to
schools is quintessentially Republican. Even as we've lost tens of
millions in revenue from the state and federal government, Kelly has
ruled out property tax increases until this year. Instead, like
Governor Pawlenty, Kelly has balanced the budget through cuts to
government services, and new regressive fees.
But that philosophy may come to a screeching halt over the next year,
as our next Mayor will be left to sort out a budgetary mess. A recent
study by the office of Council Research has suggested that just to fund
the current level of services under Kelly's budget proposal would
require a property tax increase of about 21%. And that's before you
add in the cost of new services proposed this year by Mayor Kelly,
which would add about $5 million more in deficit.
The City will either have to dramatically raise property taxes, or
dramatically cut services, or both. St. Paul government is already far
leaner than it once was, and in some areas such as fire protection, it
is so small it fails to meet industry standards for safety and
performance. In order to deal with many of the cuts advanced under
Governor Pawlenty, St. Paul has exhausted almost all of its easy routes
to money savings.
The City Council has tried in vain to soften the day of reckoning.
Twice, the Council has passed tax increases, only to be vetoed by the
Mayor. In 2004, the Council passed a 2% levy increase, which would
fund police, just as the Mayor proposes this year. The Mayor vetoed
the levy increase. Two weeks ago, the Council passed a 5% levy
increase, to help soften the blow expected next year. The Mayor again
vetoed the increase last week, saying 3% would be better.
Instead, the Mayor's budget relies on raiding the rainy day funds and
excess balances of City Departments. It's a one-time, election year
fix. And it relies on using fees from departments like the Licensing
department (LIEP) to fund non-fee activities. That, it seems, may be
flatly illegal - two Minnesota cities are being sued for doing just, as
an article linked below describes.
But what Kelly is actually doing is accumulating the pain Γβ for the
next Mayor to deal with. Council President Lantry calls Kelly's budget
"irresponsible". Councilmember Dave Thune suggests the steep tax
increases needed next year will drive people from their homes.
Councilmember Jay Benanav says that it is, "the policy of the Kelly
administration to strip bare the financial cupboard of the city and
make it all but impossible to provide the kind of services that
citizens expect."
As Benanav suggests, it's a budget that radical conservatives like
Grover Norquist can salivate over. It's Norquist, of course, who
famously said he wanted to, "cut government...down to the size where we
can drown it in the bathtub.Γβ And drown we might. Just as the Bush
Administration has plunged us back into a national debt left to future
generations, Kelly has deferred the tough choices to the point where
they could hinder our government's future. Kelly's budget combines the
worst philosophies of his friends at the Chamber of Commerce, and
election year budget tricks.
In the long term, it is St. Paul that loses because of Randy Kelly's
short-sighted, Republican-style fiscal priorities. But in the short
term, it may be our incumbent Mayor who loses. It will likely be Mayor
Chris Coleman and the very same City Council that tried to avert the
crisis who will have to sort out Randy's messy legacy.
Lucky them.
(EXCELLENT ARTICLE!)
Dollars and Nonsense / Boss Kelly's budget smacks of election-year
politics
http://www.citypages.com/databank/26/1293/article13673.asp
Council Approves 3% Levy Increase
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/local/states/minnesota/
counties/ramsey_county/12647685.htm