After bankruptcy, California city experiments with letting voters make budget decisions

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

A California city that recently emerged from bankruptcy is taking a new approach to budgeting -- this time, by asking voters how it should spend the taxpayers' money.

The question is being put to residents in Vallejo, Calif., a blue-collar port city of 116,000 people.

Under a pilot program, Vallejo is using what is known as "participatory budgeting" to figure out where to spend a $3.2 million portion of Measure B, a city tax initiative approved last year. At public assemblies throughout the next few weeks, involved residents are brainstorming ideas -- from youth centers to after school programs, from new playgrounds to music festivals. Any civic project or service will be considered, so long as it fits the financial constraints, and benefits the community.

"I'd like to see the money concentrated on parks," said one man at the meeting.

"I'd like more to go to the youth centers," said another.

Those suggestions joined a growing list of possibilities posted on the wall. Many residents say more street lights are needed given the high crime rate in a city just now emerging from federal bankruptcy.

Vallejo was among the first big American cities to file for federal protection after the financial crisis in 2008.

But, given that backdrop, the head of the city has serious concerns.

"I have no problems with creativity, but now is not the time to be creative," said Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis. He argues that in a community struggling to get back on its feet, tax dollars should pay for critical city services -- that's it.

"If you talk to the public, they say we want public safety, we want our streets fixed, we want buildings and grounds, we want service -- and we're not doing that," Davis said.

________

 

And now you don't have the money to do that.

[clearvision]

Fox News:

A California city that recently emerged from bankruptcy is taking a new approach to budgeting -- this time, by asking voters how it should spend the taxpayers' money.

The question is being put to residents in Vallejo, Calif., a blue-collar port city of 116,000 people.

Under a pilot program, Vallejo is using what is known as "participatory budgeting" to figure out where to spend a $3.2 million portion of Measure B, a city tax initiative approved last year. At public assemblies throughout the next few weeks, involved residents are brainstorming ideas -- from youth centers to after school programs, from new playgrounds to music festivals. Any civic project or service will be considered, so long as it fits the financial constraints, and benefits the community.

"I'd like to see the money concentrated on parks," said one man at the meeting.

"I'd like more to go to the youth centers," said another.

Those suggestions joined a growing list of possibilities posted on the wall. Many residents say more street lights are needed given the high crime rate in a city just now emerging from federal bankruptcy.

Vallejo was among the first big American cities to file for federal protection after the financial crisis in 2008.

But, given that backdrop, the head of the city has serious concerns.

"I have no problems with creativity, but now is not the time to be creative," said Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis. He argues that in a community struggling to get back on its feet, tax dollars should pay for critical city services -- that's it.

"If you talk to the public, they say we want public safety, we want our streets fixed, we want buildings and grounds, we want service -- and we're not doing that," Davis said.

________

 

And now you don't have the money to do that.

Come on, where are their bike garages, bike lanes, wind power initiatives, etc.

[pollyannaish]

Police, Fire, Infrastructure creation and maintenance and a little bit of community development to bring in new business.

 

Done.

[Valin]

San Bernardino: Poster Child for Blue Model Decline.

11/13/12

 

Even among California cities that have declared bankruptcy, San Bernardino stands out as extraordinary in its own right: Its city officials had been lying about the city’s fiscal condition for nearly 20 years.

 

A new Reuters piece explains how the city continued to raise wages and benefits for public employees long after it became clear that these moves were putting it on the road to a budget meltdown and making it the poster child for blue model decline:

 

(Snip)

 

The lion’s share of the blame here should go to the city and union officials that drove the city policy, but the Wall Street lenders and pension funds that are now collecting from these cities deserve their share of opprobrium as well. Calpers, the California state pension fund, has been in the news recently for threatening to take struggling cities to court to force them to pay the full value of their pension obligations. But not too long ago Calpers was pushing cities to adopt the lavish benefits that contributed to their current predicament:

 

(Snip)

[Valin]