The pre-release of the Mayor’s budget is interesting. First, that the Mayor and his staff can construct a forward looking plan without any increase in taxes. Sure, some fees are to be increased, but fees at least are paid by those using the service and are not assessed to the general populace.
So a normal homeowning taxpayer who does not use any of the for-fee services will not feel any impact at all.
That’s remarkable in these times where several other cities are not only raising taxes, but some are declaring bankruptcy. That makes our Midwestern conservative style of governance stand out. The Mayor has correctly read the feelings of the citizenry and created a financial plan that is not only possible, but sustainable for the future.
It is also interesting to see some of the comments from some city leaders. For instance, the initial reaction of the downtown leadership was against raising parking meter fees. It is disappointing to hear that, when the whole reason for the change is to entice more downtown employees to use one of the many parking garages available, thereby creating more short term street parking places for the use of retail customers, the very people the downtown merchants are trying to attract.
After some more reasonable thought, the downtown leaders saw the logic and the wisdom and approved the move. Instead of being critical, they should be pleased about this progressive policy, which is inevitable.
There is a limit, after all, of parking places on the street. On the other hand, we can, like all other cities construct more parking garages. The revenue they create, plus a special parking garage building fund, should be able to keep pace with a growing, vibrant downtown.
The parking garage building fund, by the way, was created by some forward looking city planners several years ago. This shows the wisdom of long range planning.
We are fortunate to live in such a financial responsible city as Lincoln, and we congratulate Mayor Beutler and his staff for their work.
So a normal homeowning taxpayer who does not use any of the for-fee services will not feel any impact at all.
That’s remarkable in these times where several other cities are not only raising taxes, but some are declaring bankruptcy. That makes our Midwestern conservative style of governance stand out. The Mayor has correctly read the feelings of the citizenry and created a financial plan that is not only possible, but sustainable for the future.
It is also interesting to see some of the comments from some city leaders. For instance, the initial reaction of the downtown leadership was against raising parking meter fees. It is disappointing to hear that, when the whole reason for the change is to entice more downtown employees to use one of the many parking garages available, thereby creating more short term street parking places for the use of retail customers, the very people the downtown merchants are trying to attract.
After some more reasonable thought, the downtown leaders saw the logic and the wisdom and approved the move. Instead of being critical, they should be pleased about this progressive policy, which is inevitable.
There is a limit, after all, of parking places on the street. On the other hand, we can, like all other cities construct more parking garages. The revenue they create, plus a special parking garage building fund, should be able to keep pace with a growing, vibrant downtown.
The parking garage building fund, by the way, was created by some forward looking city planners several years ago. This shows the wisdom of long range planning.
We are fortunate to live in such a financial responsible city as Lincoln, and we congratulate Mayor Beutler and his staff for their work.
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