I don’t usually do this but let me start off by stressing that this is my opinion only. If you don’t like something here, take it out on me: these are my thoughts and mine alone.
When we started the budget last year (Fall 2009), the City Manager told me, “next years budget will be worse”. I thought he was nuts – we had just laid off a bunch of people, closed Parks and Rec and cut millions from the budget. I took a lot of that pretty personal. I knew many of those we laid off and finding a job in this environment can be a challenge.
Unfortunately, I now believe that the Manager might be right – the next budget could be worse and here’s why: