HomeMy WebLinkAbout4/16/2019 Item 13, Smigelski
From:John Smigelski <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Strategic Budget Direction
Honorable Mayor and City Council
Thank you for this opportunity to provide comments on the Strategic Budget Direction for Fiscal 2019/21.
To paraphrase an old saying: show me where you spend your money and where you spend your time and I will know
who you are and what you value
Now is the time for the City to show who they are and what they value.
The Fiscal Sustainability and Responsibility goal is proposed to receive over 12 million dollars; the proposal for Climate
Action, including grants, is only just over three quarters of a million. A 16 to 1 ratio.
Fiscal Sustainability is about dealing with the past while Climate Action is dealing with the future.
Climate Action is in its second budget cycle as a top priority. The City has adopted the aggressive goal of being carbon
neutral by 2035. The staff is to be commended for the significant progress made over the last two years, but it is only
the beginning. When the Climate Action Plan is completed, cost effective actions will be identified beyond those in the
proposed budget. Additional funds should be allocated to implement the plan at this time---the city should not wait for
another budget cycle to fund these actions.
I would propose that there be a significant transfer of funds allocated to Fiscal Sustainability to Climate Action. Given
the nature of the growing danger of the climate change, does a 1 to 1 ratio better represent the city’s values? More
realistically, doubling the funds for Climate Action would dramatically change this effort without really impacting Fiscal
Sustainability.
Since the Climate Action plan development is in the early stage and it is unsure what potential actions might be
warranted, the transferred funds should be reserved for Climate Plan Implementation. Any funds not utilized to
implement the final Climate Action Plan, could revert back to Fiscal Sustainability.
Please fund your values and prepare to implement the Climate Action Plan. Reduce the allocation of funds to deal with
the problem from the past to enable addressing the actions needed for a carbon free future---- let’s get there in 2035.
Thank you again for this opportunity to comment on the plan.
John Smigelski
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