Blogs

Madam Mayor and Members of the Council
 
Thank you…for the many long hours you’ve spent, along with the city staff, working on budget development and the current budget proposal. As citizens, we can only try to understand what it means to take on these responsibilities in a time of incredibly hard choices. But what we can imagine are the difficulties of facing an unhealthy budget situation on the one hand … and on the other hand, asking a financially injured community to take on additional burdens.     
 

Last night (2/3/09), the City Council spent at least a half hour discussing the budget for training for city employees. The HR person described how the training budget was cut in half from over $100K to about $60K (keeping 10 different programs at about $6K each.) Earlier in January, the Council spent time discussing a $7,000 expenditure on office furniture.

• Thursday, February 17, 7 to 9 pm
     Coffee hosted by Joan Slavin and Chuck Marcotte, 2021 Colfax

• Saturday, February 21, 11:30 am to 3 pm
     Kids Campaign Kickoff!
      Join Jane and her family for door-to-door 
      campaigning in the 7th Ward, beginning at 2703 
      Prairie, followed by gym activity and pizza at
      Chandler-Newberger. 

• Sunday, March 1, 2 to 4 pm

Dear Friends and Neighbors:

Evanston is at a critical juncture, one that presents enormous challenges, but also opportunities. The City faces another year of tight budgets, unprecedented liability to its police and fire pension funds, and overdue investment in infrastructure. While I have a realistic perspective on the City's dire budget landscape, we must also look to new opportunities and resources outside the silo of government to identify solutions to Evanston's challenges.

I had the opportunity to attend this past weekend’s 2009-2010 budget workshop conducted by City staff for both the City Council and interested citizens. The work and effort put forth by the staff along with their involvement and willingness to address all comments and questions should certainly be commended.

The “workshop” did not lack data, information and knowledgeable staff. What it did lack was a central question.

Here are a few highlights:

Three years ago, I asked Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin for ideas on how I might contribute to public service. He suggested a trusteeship on the North Shore Mosquito Abatement District (NSMAD) board. “Mosquitoes?”, I replied, “What do I know about mosquitoes?” Experience as an entomologist was not required. Instead, I was asked to serve because of my financial background and my recent experience as President of the Democratic Party of Evanston.

At the Evanston City Council Budget Workshop on November 17, City staff presented a study on water and sewer cost of service rates and fees. A deficit is projected, primarily because water usage has declined by over 16% since 1998, resulting in less revenue. Given the large increase in rates to pay for the improved storm sewer system, is it any wonder that Evanston residents have cut back their usage?