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Thursday, June 04, 2009

City Doesn't Need Four More Years of Spending

By Richard J. Berry
Candidate for Albuquerque Mayor
      With the signing of the city budget, Mayor Martin Chávez has put the city's financial future, our public safety and our quality-of-life projects on shaky ground. He has sacrificed private-sector jobs that would have helped us recover from these tough economic times. He has made politically-expedient, election-year policy decisions that will cost us all for years to come.
       He didn't get us here overnight. It took the mayor several years of overspending. After growing the city budget by almost 50 percent between 2003 and 2007, the mayor put himself in a position where he had to make tough decisions, and his decisions are much different than I would have made.
       The mayor could have built reserves during the good years, but instead he went on a spending spree. He has kept reserves at the bare minimum levels required by statute. This may be acceptable for bond ratings, but it has left us with no rainy day fund — and make no mistake, it is raining. Just ask the unemployed people in Albuquerque who are struggling to support their families.
       To balance the budget and support a top-heavy administration, the mayor raided property tax revenues and took nearly $40 million from public safety and quality of life projects, including infrastructure improvements, city parks, the zoo, median landscaping, senior centers, youth soccer fields, job creation incentives — the list goes on and on. What is worse is that his decision not only affects the current capital plan, but potentially affects plans through 2017. This bad decision will be his legacy — a legacy that will chip away at our quality of life for the next two administrations.
       The mayor also chose to spend the majority of the quarter-cent public safety tax for union raises to garner union endorsements. His decision was politically shrewd, but it makes no fiscal sense. Removing dollars from a fund that was intended for one-time expenditures and growing city payroll during these difficult times is not prudent. Firefighters and police officers deserve good pay, but they also deserve the equipment and facilities needed to do their jobs well and to get them home safely at night.
       The bad decisions are catching up to this mayor, and we are all paying the price.
       The mayor believes he deserves another four years, so much so that he sued the city to get another bite at the apple. What do we believe he can accomplish in 16 years that he has not been able to accomplish in his first 12?
       It is time Albuquerque had a mayor who understands that our priorities should be to get back to the basics, run city government more like a business, focus on job creation and provide the essential city services we all need.
       This will take hard work and a hard look at the city budget. I have been through this process as a member of the Appropriations and Finance Committee in the Legislature, where we worked on a bipartisan basis to make the state's $6 billion dollar budget solvent. I also have had to build budgets and live by them in my business career. These experiences will be invaluable to me as Albuquerque's next mayor.
       I am running for mayor because we need a balanced approach at City Hall. It is time for new leadership, leadership that will challenge the status quo. It is time. It can happen, and I am the candidate with the business experience, the background, the enthusiasm and the drive to lead Albuquerque to a more prosperous future for us and our families.
       

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