Mayor budget decisions guided by public process

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By DEENA WINTER / Lincoln Journal Star

Now that 2,000 Lincolnites have had a say in how the city should put together a budget, it’s up to the mayor to decide whether he’ll propose a property tax increase to balance the budget this year.

While campaigning, Mayor Chris Beutler promised no tax increase his first year in office, but made no promises beyond that.

On Thursday, he released the final report on a three-month effort to gather public input on the city budget.

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Chris Beutler

Chris Beutler

Safety and security were identified as the highest priorities.   Economic opportunities also ranked high, but many believed that area should be handled by the philanthropic and business communities, not the city.

“It’s clear that people feel there is a minimum level of service they expect, and they may be willing to make sacrifices to maintain the services they value. With a nearly $6 million deficit, we have to be honest with the public, talk about what the city will lose with cuts and decide whether those services are worth paying more money to keep,” Beutler said.

In other words, people may be willing to swallow a tax increase —there’s the “sacrifice” — to avoid draconian budget cuts to parks and libraries.

A series of surveys, focus groups and town hall meetings  —called “Priority Lincoln” —showed Lincolnites value all city services. They don’t particularly want to give up or gouge any of them to close the city’s projected $6 million budget shortfall.

But they’re also pretty resistant to increasing property taxes to balance the budget.

As the mayor crafts his 2008-2009 budget, he’ll have to decide whether to float the always-unpopular property tax increase, or always-unpopular budget cuts.

However, it’s clear he’ll have a tough time getting a property tax increase through the Republican-dominated City Council.

Mayor Coleen Seng couldn’t even get a Democrat-dominated council to agree to an unchanged property tax rate in 2006, because it would have brought in more money due to property revaluations.

And now, all four Republican council members are pretty solidly against a tax increase. But Councilman Ken Svoboda said it’s not really a partisan issue.

“I don’t think any of us are wild about raising property taxes,” he said of the council in general.

And he’s not sure Beutler’s “Priority Lincoln” process was worth the time, effort and $85,000 cost. (Although the Lincoln Community Foundation picked up $73,000 of the cost.)

It’s no surprise, he said, that the surveys showed people most value public safety and creating jobs. He figures the city could have better used the money to hire a police officer.

To back up their position, some council members cited the results of the mayor’s scientific phone survey: Only 16 percent of people said they would fund the city’s priorities with a tax increase.

Councilman Robin Eschliman said that’s a pretty small minority. Even after about 50 of those surveyed spent a day with city officials, got free lunch and $75 for their trouble, the support for a tax increase only went up to 45 percent, she said.

And the city can’t afford to similarly wine, dine and educate 240,000 people, she said.

“I don’t see how we can raise property taxes,” Eschliman said.

Councilman John Spatz was against raising taxes while campaigning last year, and said Thursday he’ll “more than likely” oppose a tax increase this year.

Councilman Jon Camp said he flat-out opposes a tax increase.

Alan Tomkins, director of the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center which coordinated “Priority Lincoln,”  said it’s no surprise people were initially resistant to a property tax increase.

But he was surprised that after some education in focus groups and town hall meetings, many people were willing to pay more taxes to preserve services.

That was only after a Budgeting 101 crash course, where they learned things like the fact that city services don’t account for much of their property tax bill (14 percent). Or that the city’s property tax rate has dropped 45 percent since 1993.

However, a tax increase was still the last resort: People said the government should look for efficiencies and innovations first.

For that reason, Beutler is exploring more partnerships with nonprofits and re-examining the status quo. For example, police currently respond to all non-injury crashes on public property, he said. Perhaps police officers’ time could be better spent elsewhere, he suggested.

Engaging the public is part of Beutler’s new approach to budgeting called outcome-based budgeting. As part of that, city services will be measured against goals. For example, goals will be set for crime clearance rates and violent crime rates.

“You’re going to see a remarkably different budget this year,” Beutler said.

Beutler is also looking at “fairly dramatic changes” in bus fares to encourage ridership, reduced spending on the StarTran bus system and possibly using smaller city buses. Bus service got the lowest ranking among Lincolnites surveyed, and Beutler said he shares residents’ concerns about empty buses. 

However, efficiencies won’t be enough to close a $6 million budget gap. It’s clear Beutler plans to show the community what services it stands to lose without more revenue.

“We have tough choices ahead in this next budget,” Beutler said.

And if a tax increase is off the table, those choices are about to get tougher.

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.