The Citizens Budget Advisory Committee report was presented to the City Council in a two hour special council meeting held on March 8^th.  The actual meeting was contentious at times with Council Vice President Tency Eason, substituting as presiding officer, calling the entire meeting "a big waste of time".

    Eason attempted on several occasions to shut down any discussion of past or present spending. She lamented that she would not have allowed a committee under her control to wander into philosophy and airy talk on spending - she did not want to hear anything beyond the introduced budget line item numbers (Specific CBAC line item recommendations from the introduced budget of last September were distributed in spreadsheet format to council members in January).  As the Citizens Budget Committee Chairman, I asked her what she expected in a budget or why she even thought a budget was necessary? - No answer.  “No answer” is what the taxpayers of Orange have been getting for too long.

    How much should the city spend on office supplies?  How many thousand of dollars should be spent on meeting refreshments and party supplies for the Department of Community Services?   Senior parties, summer sports programs? New computers? The unfortunate fact is that these numbers have little relevancy to this year’s budget because nine months have passed since the beginning of the fiscal year (last July 1^st) and most spending decisions have already been decided by the Council and Administration without the benefit of budget planning. 

    The problem is not a group of wining homeowners in the South ward protesting property tax increases. The problem is not how many computers the city buys for the clerk’s office; it is the major, long-term, structural defect in this city’s finances. Costs exceed income. Costs are increasing, income is decreasing. To put it bluntly, we cannot afford the city government as it is presently operated.  It does not take a financial genius to question why Orange is hiring when other cities are laying off; giving raises to all department heads and city employees when other cities, counties and states across the nation are freezing salaries, cutting benefits and tightening their belts.

    The citizens and taxpayers of Orange know that more needs to be changed in this city than the mayor’s office furniture. In order to fix this problem, the city will have to fundamentally change the way it does business.  To that end, the fourteen members of the citizen’s budget committee have convened eight times, including two public forums. In addition, there have been dozens of smaller meetings and hundreds of man-hours invested in study and analysis of financial records.  We do not have all the answers but we have developed a clear goal, a path back to fiscal responsibility. How are we going to accomplish this? Looking forward, there needs to be a shift from “personality” based decision making to “process” based decision making.  Call it airy talk and a “waste of time” if you want, the alternative is a “waste of a city”.

    In simple terms, city spending decisions have often been viewed in the past as short term. Council votes on spending resolutions have sometimes been made on impulse and emotion rather than on informed choice. Some of this has been caused by the administration withholding complete or timely information from Council members. Sometimes council members have forgotten that they are going shopping with other people’s money. Just because you want something now, does not mean that you can afford it now.

    The mayor’s “budget cuts” likewise were short term; a political ploy to give the appearance of lower tax rate increases. The forum numbers were calculated using pension payment deferrals. This money would eventually have to be paid to the State with interest. This is no better than a credit card loan. Worse, are the compounded increases in taxes needed in future years as the problems in the outside economy catch up with the city’s deferred costs and unchecked spending. These levels of tax increases can negatively impact the ability of the city to attract development investment and force families out of their homes. This will lead to an ever accelerating downward spiral of financial disaster.

    Without the pension deferral, the mayor’s budget proposal represents a 13% property tax increase (CBAC’s recommendation was for a  8.1% increase with no pension deferrals).  We understand how the new mayor might not have been up to speed on the budget process. There is no excuse for the Chief Financial Officer for presenting such an irresponsible budget.

The alternative, in our view, is to have an overall process of ongoing evaluation and review that would be incorporated into a five year plan for Orange’s fiscal stability and economic development.  An honest and meaningful municipal budget, implemented as a planning tool over time and used as a measure of the city’s progress toward fiscal responsibility, is an important first step.

    The budget process for FY2010 (starting June 1^st, 2009) should be in progress starting now. Operational audits, contract and procurement oversight reform, and revenue growth opportunities should be part of coordinated long term fiscal planning starting now.

The Citizens Budget Advisory Committee should be a standing committee for the duration of a fiscal year, not an afterthought to be constituted twenty four hours before council budget hearings are due to start and  three months after the beginning of the fiscal year. Committee members serving in advisory and support capacities for council members and city administrators, could leverage citizen expertise and facilitate communication and cooperation between the branches of city government at no additional cost to the city. 

    The city should also not be a hostage to State policies on extraordinary aid applications. The mayor and the legal department should challenge the discriminatory and punitive rules that prevent our city from adopting a responsible budget until after aid is awarded. The resulting half year delay built into this system should not prevent, or be used as an excuse to avoid, implementation of a responsible municipal budget.

Bruce Meyer

Chairman, Citizens Budget Advisory Committee