So Cincinnati City Council Passes a Budget...

... and its complete crap.


Yet again they are using one time stop-gap measures to fix problems cause by structural instability. You don't fix a building and call it habitable after the wall fell out by putting up a wooden beam and some plastic to cover the hole. And we can't continue to do this with the budget. Council needs to take a good hard look at all the programs, expenses, and sources of income in the budget and identify where savings can be had, where investments need to be made to secure increased future revenue, and look at what departments need to be right-sized.


I hope council begins working on next year's budget very soon, otherwise, we will be in this same position a year from now. I doubt they will make many difficult decisions, though, since election year approaches, and many fear for their jobs. They should.


It's only a matter of time before the whole building comes crashing down.

City Budget - Police & Fire Layoffs

Council: Concessions will save jobs

BY JANE PRENDERGAST • JPRENDERGAST@ENQUIRER.COM • DECEMBER 13, 2010

All 275 Cincinnati police officers and firefighters who face layoffs Jan. 2 could keep their jobs in a deal offered by City Council members Monday - if their unions agree to a total of $20 million in salary cuts and other concessions.

...

Ninety percent of the city's roughly 5,500 workers are represented by unions, a fact City Manager Milton Dohoney has stressed repeatedly as he talks about his proposed $340 million general fund budget that includes the layoffs and a $20 monthly trash collection fee.

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After reading this article from the Enquirer, a couple things struck me:

1. City Council refuses to make the difficult choice to right size the city's police and fire departments.
2. If council is going to ask police for concessions, they should approach ALL city departments with equivalent percentage concessions. This should include themselves. As Quinlavin said in the article, "she is certain her colleagues at the station would have agreed to concessions if management asked for help saving jobs." So she should be willing to help out herself and ask other departments to help if they have determined the police and fire jobs to be that important.

However, despite this, everyone needs to realize that there is no feasible way to cut the budget and fill the gap without some concessions from employes - either in the form of reductions in pay and benefits or from layoffs. 

In the coming week, we are really going to see what Council is made of. There have been a number of new proposals from different groups within council. It going to be interesting.