IBA to mayor: Fix budget by raising fees and cutting hours, don’t close libraries

There’s more than one way to fill a $43 million hole in the city’s budget, and the Independent Budget Analyst, Andrea Tevlin, has a few ideas. Tevlin, the City Council’s adviser on all things financial, released a review of Mayor Jerry Sanders’ proposal for how to close the budget gap. In addition to many requests for clarification or explanation from Sanders’ staff, Tevlin also offers some alternatives. I won’t get into all the nitty-gritty, but here are what I consider some highlights:

First, Tevlin wants to save the libraries. Sanders proposes closing seven branch libraries across the city based on their low circulations, though he provided no data. If my e-mail is any indication, citizens are already most put out about this possibility. Tevlin, worried about the loss of services, and the blight that could be attracted by shuttered buildings, suggests cutting weekly hours at all libraries by 7.5 hours for six months. This would save the same amount of money as closing seven branches. Alternatively, she proposes cutting 10 percent of libraries’ funding, with money taken from branches’ budgets on a sliding scale.

Tevlin also notes that the mayor didn’t even consider raising fees in his report to the City Council. She names eight different revenue sources, including raising parking meter rates and parking fees on city-owned lots. She writes:

As the City’s User Fees have not been analyzed or increased in several years, it is likely the General Fund is increasingly subsidizing user fee activities at the expense of other priority services.

At a press conference last week, reporters pressed the mayor on the question of raising taxes or fees, but he mostly demurred, saying the urge to raise taxes would have to rise out of the mist of citizen discontent before he would take the lead on the issue.

Tevlin’s other major proposal for how to save money would be to create a mandatory furlough. By giving all city employees one week off without pay, the city could save $10 million. If police officers and firefighters were still on the job, there would still be a $3 million savings.

There’s more interesting stuff in there, but one other note—and this item goes out special to incoming City Attorney Jan Goldsmith—Tevlin has your back. The mayor proposes that all non-mayoral departments cut 10 percent of their budgets. Tevlin says that’s fine for everyone but the City Attorney: “With a new City Attorney taking office next month, consideration should be given to allow him an opportunity to re-establish the office, and to not unfairly require him to correct budgetary problems that preceded him, with only six months remaining in the fiscal year.”