Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Getting Involved: Budget, Transportation, and Volunteerism
As I posted below, the council had a workshop Monday to discuss the coming budget and what money the city should spend where. Every Monday in October will be a budget workshop, so that's probably the time to go into more detail. But just so you have the original document, here's the city manager's list of proposed budget cuts that would be implemented in case citizens decide to ban minicasinos.
At some point, I will put together a survey to give you a chance to tell me how you think the budget should be adjusted for 2009, and what we call Plan B ... what should be cut if we lose 8 percent of our general fund from the minicasino ban. It might well be you want to propose an alternative to what the city manager listed above.
If you are real overachiever, you can go to the documents that I will be using for this survey. That link is to the council packet for Sept. 8, and includes a very, very long set of lists of various city operations. The list enumerates the services the city provides, and associated costs.
You could print the lists out and look for places to cut the budget. But again, I'll get a more Web-friendly survey ready by mid-October. That will be a good time to get involved.
And speaking of getting involved .. it's time for my reminder that the city is always looking for volunteers to give staff, the council and other citizens about various aspects of what goes on in the city. The city's community advisory groups have a big say in what is spent where and how, among other things.
The deadline to apply for spots on a couple of groups is Sept. 22, which is not that far away.
Our transportation advisory group is suggesting the city raise taxes and fees to pay for roads. There's a surprising amount of momentum for this. The volunteers have presented some compelling information to suggest that if the city doesn't spend a gallon of money now, the city may have to spend five gallons later on to make up for the damage.
Monday, Councilman Pad Finnigan suggested spending some of Lakewood's reserve fund to preserve the roads. Normally, you'd not expect him to propose deficit spending in a million years. So this transportation group is pretty important right now. You may agree, disagree, or feel you don't know enough, and the group is always looking for good minds.
There are many other advisory groups about subjects ranging from art to public safety to parks. The arts board is relatively new, and is particularly looking for people with fresh ideas and an interest in arts and culture. Whatever subjects interest someone, I always suggest people fill out the form when they have time to do so and turn it into City Hall; and then their application will be considered when there is an opening or when a term ends. You can get a PDF version of the application here.
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At some point, I will put together a survey to give you a chance to tell me how you think the budget should be adjusted for 2009, and what we call Plan B ... what should be cut if we lose 8 percent of our general fund from the minicasino ban. It might well be you want to propose an alternative to what the city manager listed above.
If you are real overachiever, you can go to the documents that I will be using for this survey. That link is to the council packet for Sept. 8, and includes a very, very long set of lists of various city operations. The list enumerates the services the city provides, and associated costs.
You could print the lists out and look for places to cut the budget. But again, I'll get a more Web-friendly survey ready by mid-October. That will be a good time to get involved.
And speaking of getting involved .. it's time for my reminder that the city is always looking for volunteers to give staff, the council and other citizens about various aspects of what goes on in the city. The city's community advisory groups have a big say in what is spent where and how, among other things.
The deadline to apply for spots on a couple of groups is Sept. 22, which is not that far away.
Our transportation advisory group is suggesting the city raise taxes and fees to pay for roads. There's a surprising amount of momentum for this. The volunteers have presented some compelling information to suggest that if the city doesn't spend a gallon of money now, the city may have to spend five gallons later on to make up for the damage.
Monday, Councilman Pad Finnigan suggested spending some of Lakewood's reserve fund to preserve the roads. Normally, you'd not expect him to propose deficit spending in a million years. So this transportation group is pretty important right now. You may agree, disagree, or feel you don't know enough, and the group is always looking for good minds.
There are many other advisory groups about subjects ranging from art to public safety to parks. The arts board is relatively new, and is particularly looking for people with fresh ideas and an interest in arts and culture. Whatever subjects interest someone, I always suggest people fill out the form when they have time to do so and turn it into City Hall; and then their application will be considered when there is an opening or when a term ends. You can get a PDF version of the application here.
