The City is in deficit spending mode and they cant make the tough decisions

They want the publics help in deciding what services are to be cut... according to a recent JG story by Benjamin Lanka: Mayor Henry said the following:

Mayor Tom Henry on Thursday wrote off increasing local income taxes as a way to help balance the city’s budget, at least for 2008. Goldner and Councilman Tom Smith, R-1st, applauded the mayor’s decision not to ask for an income tax increase, although Smith said Henry’s decision was more of a formality. Tom Smith said “There’s no chance the council would raise the local option income tax,”

(Class, this is called talking out of both ends of your body, eer, sides of your mouth)

Mayor Henry also said:

1. City must find a way to trim $5.8 million from next year’s budget.

2. Council was wise not to raise the tax last year, and “this year I am going to ask them not to use it again.”

3. Council last year trimmed the 2008 city budget by $3.7 million

4. City faces a budget deficit of $13.2 million in 2010.

5. Henry said he recently approved financing the council’s 2008 CEDIT projects.

5b. Each district council member receives $450,000 in county economic development income taxes.

5c. The three at-large council members split an additional $450,000.

Councilwoman Karen Goldner, D-2nd, said she was glad the 2008 projects were approved. She also said while cutting some of the CEDIT projects might help in the short term, the city must continue to invest in its streets and sewers.

(EDITOR: That is a total of $3,150,000 that we could have gotten back in a tax break or they could have used to balance the budget deficit)

Goldner and Smith represent the neighborhoods in the northeast partnership. They said the mayor’s public meetings were a good start to determining spending priorities. To help fill those deficits, Henry asked residents to place stickers on boards listing general city services, such as police protection and neighborhood code enforcement. Each attendee was given 10 stickers to put next to the services they believed were most vital. The process is planned to be repeated over the next two weeks as Mayor Henry meets with other area partnerships, and the results will be used to help prioritize city spending.

(look ma I got stickers)

Goldner said the task of finding all the cuts would be difficult.“The problem is, the city really doesn’t do anything stupid,” she said. Goldner also said one resident suggested cutting the city’s leaf collection.

(that second statement is a lie! How many condos at Harrison Square have been purchased?)

Robert Bastian, who attended the partnership meeting, said he had concerns about the money the city was spending on its trail system. While he said he liked trails, he wasn’t sure it was the best use of the city’s money. “I’d rather see my money spent on law enforcement, fire protection – stuff like that,” he said.

(BINGO!!)

In addition what about the money from the Light Lease Annuity we have not heard much about that since the election last year but then again he wants us to forget about that till 2009, anyway, so oh well. And how much money was spent on North River and we still dont know the details of the Impact and Environmental Surveys?

Jeff Pruitt now at Fort Wayne Politics and Mike Sylvester last year on this blog as well as myself on F6 went round upon round of how the City was going to screw everything up. We are consistently being proven right. It is time for the citizens of Fort Wayne to collectively give a crap and recall the mayor or for the City Council to give a vote of no confidence - Henry is a balloon when it comes to leading or managing the City.

Future meetings where the citizens get to play with stickers
and tell the City how to do its job are:
Southeast Area Partnership
: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at
Calvary 3rd Presbyterian Church,
4700 S. Anthony Blvd.

Northwest Area Partnership
: 6:30 p.m. Thursday
North Ridge Baptist Church,
1300 E. Cook Road

Southwest Area Partnership
: 6:30 p.m. May 21
Taylor University’s Eicher Commons,
1025 Rudisill Blvd.