The Budget

According to the Journal article today, there will be no position cuts in the city government. They will retain the 398 positions for 2009. The only position cuts made were part time parking control employees. I thought Ms. Gilleland was working on downsizing the positions in the city. What happened to that, Ms. Gilleland? 70% goes to police and fire protection. 70%!!!! A whopping $207,493 is going to street repair. That won't make a dent in money needed.Looks like they'll keep patching. I noticed the city revenue basically comes from income taxes, property taxes and other sources including "miscelleanous". Wonder what that is? Also notice that the 09 budget is more than the 08 budget by $883,221. This, from a city that has precious little money to begin with. The city's "carryover fund" is at 7.19 million. How much "carryover" does the city have to keep and could some of this "carryover" be diverted to the streets? Gee, it sounds like the city should start generating more money in the property tax, income tax categories by making an effort to attract decent jobs in here, but alas, we're losing Billy Murphy, our favorite "go-getter" who we know, was just on the cutting edge of attaining many job opportunities. 2009 promises to be more of the same old futility.

I agee, more positions should be cut at the city. I don't think it would be that hard to cut 10% off immediately, then look for additiona cuts after the dust settles.