City of Evanston Blog
Special City Council Meeting Monday Night
Monday night the City Council is having a special meeting to discuss budget. The packet for the meeting can be found here (PDF). What the midyear budget report says is that we are looking at a $4 million deficit in the current fiscal year. I am going to propose covering the deficit with $2 million from reserves and $2 million of general spending reductions. I am not proposing any layoffs or furloughs, but will be instituting next week several spending restrictions to get us through the balance of the fiscal year.
Also Monday we will be providing our first real look at the budget situation for FY 2010/11. Staff is now projecting an $8 million deficit in our $90 million general fund budget for new year. While I hope this number goes down, we need to plan to fill this gap. The City Council has approved a community budget process for the month of November with four different community meetings. I am asking each department to hold their own version of a budget workshop with employees before these community workshops to get employee input on budget ideas.
I plan to do everything I can to craft a budget that has minimal impacts on staff positions, but the reality is that it will be very difficult to balance the budget without impacts to staff positions.
Too bad you inherited this mess, just as it's too bad that the City's staff and the new City Council are so fiscally irresponsible. They both knew the City would be in a deep hole, but they've still been spending like crazy.
Examples: didn't the staff push for a $1.2 Million lakefront toilet and another $500,000 for new boat racks? And most of the aldermen rubber-stamped them without giving any thought to their long term fiscal impact.
Take away these unnecessary projects and it would have cut this year's $4 Million deficit in half. Good luck keeping that shiny new toilet clean when the city can't afford a new mop, let alone someone to use it. Guess we can kiss the Robert Crown Center renovation goodbye now, too. Meanwhile, the City's pension fund obligation is spiraling out of control, too.
Citizens of Evanston, when your taxes go up -- and trust me, they will, no matter what the new city manager is promising -- remember the real reason your pocket is being picked: a City staff that's shamelessly pushing its pet projects, and a City Council that either doesn't care or, more like, just doesn't know enough to stop them.
October 19, 2009 8:50 AM