CITY MANAGER Matt Zimmerman certainly knows how to make a good first impression. His proposed list of cuts in city spending has something to offend everyone.
Once again, the taxi coupons are on the chopping block. Also on the list are the Fourth of July fireworks display, the Emporia Municipal Band, the street-replacement program and the hiring of a new city planner.
If the city commissioners accept the list as presented, Emporia will be a grayer, duller city with a lot of potholes and a population of elderly and disabled held prisoner in their homes by limited transportation.
But before Emporians bring out the tar and feathers, they should remember that Zimmerman was only doing his job when he compiled the list. The commission had asked him to review the city budget and identify cuts that would least affect core city services. That is what he did.
The job required him to park his civic pride at the door and listen only to the siren songs of the spreadsheet and calculator. Like a plumber tromping down the basement steps to unclog a backed-up sewer line, Zimmerman faced a task that had nothing to do with his personal druthers — it was the job he was told to do and he did it.
To give him the benefit of the doubt, it would be kind to assume that he was holding his nose the whole time.
Now it is time for the city commissioners to do their job — to look at Zimmerman’s list and decide what to do about it.
While the commissioners are deciding — and fielding the angry protests that are sure to come — it would be good for them to reflect on the truth that communities budget not only dollars and cents, but services and amenities. When quality of life is added to the columns of the municipal spreadsheet, saving money can be very costly.
After decades of relative stagnation, Emporia is teetering on the brink of real growth. The city has new industries and ever-increasing transcontinental and international traffic past its front door.
This is a bad time to sound retreat.
The commission should treat the list as what it is: a wake-up call.
BabblingBrooke (anonymous) says...
"Emporia is teetering on the the brink of growth!"..... "This is a bad time to sound retreat.".
Amen!....That says it all, as far as I am concerned,
July 29, 2007 at 6:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )