Candidate for
Council Member; City of Folsom

All across the country exuberant growth and economic expansion provided a rug under which was swept a time bomb of unfunded expenses. The Federal and state governments continue to ignore or push off escalating expenses that have no funding source. Here in Folsom we need to be smarter, and we have not been.

You will hear some say that "Folsom has weathered the storm". What troubles me is that the storm may not be over and survival is too modest a goal. Almost $2 billion dollars of tax and other revenue passed through Folsom over the last ten years. We managed to save less than one percent and now as revenue has been in free fall for two years we have spent that meager savings. Now we have no savings account, escalating costs and revenue that continues to slide. As a result the city finds itself cutting staff, reducing services and needing more volunteers to operate.

Each of these changes represents a broken promise to a family. A family who was counting on that paycheck or those benefits, a family counting on a visit the library or zoo or a family counting on Fire and Police protection. I will make long term budgetary planning my number one focus so that we save better, plan better and make reliable promises.

My top priority is to break apart the myth of the balanced budget. A balanced budget most often simply means not spending more than you have over a single year. Our collective experiences over the past few years should clearly highlight that the budget while balanced in any given 12 month period was structurally implausible in times of declining revenue. We must install a plan to place a drag on budget growth in times of increasing revenue to match what community needs are over an averaging period.

Then....

Develop a structure for creating endowments for special city services to ensure their long term funding. The libraries, the Zoo, the senior center and recreation programs can be funded in perpetuity from endowments. These will be assembled from grants and the savings derived during periods of revenue growth. My plan would start the long process of creating meaningful and self supporting endowments by diverting a specific percentage of more volatile revenue streams such as sales tax income permanently to these programs. This strategy has worked well in the university setting and non-profit organizations. It will be along process but can pay off.

Sorting out just the problems of this year is not just short sighted but is beneath our ability to provide for future generations. The vitality and long term prospects of our city and our region would be much greater if we looked out over the horizon a little farther.