[Mpls] Council races - who, and why?

[Laura and lloyd]

On Tuesday, October 4, 2005, at 03:07  PM, Michael Hohmann wrote:

>
> I found property taxes to be the top issues on people's minds as I went
> door-to-door before the primary.
>
Other than a somewhat surprising lack of interest, I found some people 
to be concerned about the vagaries of personality or the concerns of 
their particular neighborhood or even block. On the other hand, there 
were those who were very concerned that we not change leadership when 
the challenger has not made his case adequately. Single term mayors are 
not good for the city, they say.
>
>
>
> Are the Mayoral and CC candidates (and MPRB, MPL Board and BET 
> candidates as
> well) going to commit to using and following a multi-year planning and
> budgeting process

> Or, will we regress back to a deficit-laden, credit card-spending 
> mentality

The library board has already committed to a multi year planning and 
budgeting process.
>
>
>
> People of modest means and those on fixed incomes are concerned with 
> making
> ends meet.

Very true. And concerned about not being heard.
>
> The increased cost of energy, post Katrina/Rita, will add millions of
> dollars in unexpected costs to City budgets over the next year-- and
> thereafter, as energy production lags demand.  How much more money is
> expected to be spent on energy by the city (and Park/Library, etc.) 
> over the
> next year, as compared with the average annual energy expenditure over 
> the
> past several years?

That's what multi-year budgeting is for, to make those comparisons and 
to know the direction of trends (and later the impact). One mitigating 
factor is that the new Central library is will be vastly more energy 
efficient and as each community library is repaired and/or remodeled, 
energy efficiencies will be seen there.

How much more money is expected to be spent is an area of conjecture. 
Budget forecasts will include that but the guesses could be wrong 
either way.  A goal would be smaller adjustments.

The weakness in the system is that library equipment has been nickled 
and dimed for decades. It's the unexpected cost that throws the budget 
and that should not be. A full examination of operating needs has to 
addressed by the city as part of responsible debt reduction and 
multi-year budgeting that anticipates the needs of depreciated items 
needing repair or replacement at some point.

Best wishes,

Laura
Southeast (Como)


Laura Waterman Wittstock
Candidate for Minneapolis Library Board of Trustees
DFL and Labor endorsed
AFSCME Mn Council 5
AFL-CIO COPE
Minneapolis Building and Trades
Stonewall DFL
Minnesota Women's Political Caucus
www.laurawatermanwittstock.com
http://laurawatermanwittstock.blogspot.com/
Wittstock for Library Committee
913 19th Avenue SE, Mpls, 55414
Minneapolis, MN
612-387-4915