During the budget process, I put an additional zoning inspector on the list of things to be considered. As the budget process went forward, it was clear that we were in a tight spot and that the tax rate would have to float up to provide a, more or less, flat revenue stream in order to support City operations. When we got around to discussing new staff, we added 3 new police officers and restored half of the Museum staff that were slated to be cut. The police officers cost a fair amount and I was worried that adding the salary for a zoning inspector would be a bridge too far so I pulled it off the table.

In hindsight, I think it might have been a mistake. It seems that, in the midst of the forced-march to a budget I lost sight of my goal of cleaning up our City.  Tighter enforcement of zoning laws is an integral part of that. It may or may not be too late for this position this year but I’ll wait until the zoning enforcement study comes out until I try to figure out what to do about it. Should be a couple of weeks or so.

This is always a bone of contention. Even in a small jurisdiction, the answer to this quesiton can take many forms. For instance, back when I was writing my column, my benchmark was always “What was the increase in the general fund?” Having spent some time on the “inside” now, I see how simplistic this approach is. See the general fund doesn’t reflect just local tax money. There is also state and federal money stirred into that pot. This year’s increase has been reported as being in excess of 11%. This isn’t entirely accurate as the following chart (from our budget presentation) shows:

See that 6.8% increase in “School Debt Service”? That, as I understand it, is a new accounting requirement. School debt service is actually paid by the City but the schools give us the money for it. If you take that out, things start to look a little more reasonable.

As a final note, I don’t post this in my own defense. Just as information and to head off the inevitable (and reasonable) question: “where does all that money go”? 4% growth in the budget is pretty easy to defend if you are going to give employees raises, hire some more police and buy a new ambulance.