The Mayor has all his bright shiny toys, now, he says, its time to cut back. It’s about time.
May 18, 2010
TO: Department & Division Heads
FR: Mayor Dave Cieslewicz
RE: 2011 Capital Budget Targets & Review of 2009 Capital BorrowingWhen we kicked off our capital budget process a year ago, I asked you to strive for balance. This year, as we continue to face the challenges of the great recession, that must still be our goal.
While we know economic recovery is coming, we also know it will not happen overnight. So this year, we must continue to balance the need for smart investments in our city with the need to face difficult budget realities brought on by a deep recession.
In my seven years as mayor, we have substantially increased the capital investment in our city with very good results. We’ve added two new fires stations, increased our ambulance fleet from six to eight, made major investments in our branch libraries, revitalized Allied Drive and the Villager, and committed to building a great new Central Library. In addition, we’ve made significant progress in our five year effort to reduce the miles of substandard arterial streets by two-thirds.
It has always been clear to me that these investments would present challenges in coming years as our debt repayments demanded more from our operating budgets. These were decisions the Council and I willingly made with that in mind. But we must also continue to take into account the real impact our borrowing will have on what will continue to be very challenging operating budgets in the coming years.
So, with the thought of balance in mind today, I am setting our 2011 borrowing goal at a 10% reduction from the Capital Improvement Plan. That is a goal of $58 million in new levy-supported borrowing and $80 million for the total borrowing package.
I expect that agencies will take into account potential savings from lower contract bids and otherwise trim their projects accordingly. We must also continue to focus on how each capital investment accomplishes three important goals: growing our tax base, creating jobs and strengthening our local economy. The times demand steadiness and an intelligent, fact-based approach. We will also continue to consider tangible results from our capital investments like those measured in Madison Measures in my capital budget decisions.
We have an excellent group of managers, and I know you will step up to the challenge. This recession will end. Our goal as a city is to find the opportunities in the challenges, to weather the current climate, and to position ourselves to take full advantage of the recovery.
This is funny and ironic in so many ways. This mayor has hardly ever held back on capital spending, and the council warned him, with more votes against the capital budget than there have been in the past, but now, he finally catches on. Sigh . . . too bad its too late.
A 10% cut, eh? What does that mean for jobs? A chunk of that could have come from not doing the Edgewater.
Blah blah blah blah blah. Do as I say, not as I do. Stop me if we've seen this before. Not that I'm cynical.
I think I need an attitude adjustment. After all, if Bob Harlan and Pat Richter are boosting a project, it has to be good for us. Right?
I also notice that in the list of projects he's proud of, the Mayor failed to mention all the huge road expansions, which not only were some of the largest (costliest) capital projects, but also contribute to unsustainable sprawl, environmental degradation, and auto-dependence.
And yes, we were the Cassandras warning that the capital spending would come back to bite future operating budgets. But all we heard was, "The spending won't kick in until the following year. We have to look at the budget for upcoming year."