Lexington Mayor Newberry Believes Hope Will Save Budget
Mayor Newberry gave his State of the Merged Government address Tuesday, opening with the famous Tale of Two Cities line "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times."
Mayor Jim Newberry presented a grim picture of Lexington's finances Tuesday, yet remained optimistic about the city's short-term future during his State of the Merged Government address.
In the speech, he noted that the city faces a $27 million shortfall in FY 2010, then he listed ten proposals to move government forward:
- Reducing the garbage tax
- Creating a strategic plan
- Conducting performance reviews
- Improving the permitting process
- Lobbying ethics reform
- Creating new tax increment financing (TIF) districts
- Creating neighborhood offices
- Compiling a facilities management database
- Expanding contracting opportunities for minority businesses
- Encouraging job training
And in case that wasn't enough, he listed four proposals he would act on now from the city's Destination 2040, a collection of liberal ideas that edited out most pro-growth proposals provided by its board members:
- Creating new bike trails
- Funding the arts
- Reducing the city's "carbon footprint"
- Making existing office buildings more energy efficient
So his plan to address the $27 million shortfall is obvious, right? What? Not a single one of those proposals sound like $27 million saved to you?
Well, here's Newberry's plan to deal with the expected shortfall (I've added emphasis):
Beyond our financial challenges, we have both enormous opportunity and enormous challenges in 2009 as a result of President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. If adopted in its current form by Congress, we will have access to unprecedented financial resources for improving our civic infrastructure. As we gather today, the precise contents of the legislation remain uncertain, but the general parameters of the bill are exciting. Substantial funding will be made available directly to cities through the Community Development Block Grant program, various public housing initiatives, and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program.
[snip]
While it is a complicated proposal, just remember this simple fact: the recovery plan is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fix many of the infrastructure problems which have been neglected for far too long. We are fortunate to have a President and a Congress that understands the crying need to invest in our cities, and I thank them for their efforts to address these pressing needs.
No need to detail how you're going to maintain a fiscally responsible budget in the face of a shortfall if you can depend on the feds to bail you out. (Or run your business responsibly, for that matter...)
