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The uncertainty is not a positive development for taxpayers. It means the politicians could come up with a last-minute compromise without much thought and without solid plans to deal with the city’s real financial problems.
Mayor Mark Funkhouser and his supporters — especially Deb Hermann and Jan Marcason — correctly are backing dramatic budget reductions. They include large cuts in city personnel positions and freezing several hundred more.
On Wednesday, Funkhouser restated his goals to build up the city’s rainy day fund and to force City Hall to live within its means.
Late Wednesday, Marcason joked that a "miracle" had happened, and a council majority supported the tough-love budget she favors.
Still, City Manager Wayne Cauthen and his top managers were beating on — and pleading with — council members to protect employees from layoffs. Cauthen was holding one-on-one sessions with council members on Wednesday, for instance.
His ploy: Wave around the possibility that less drastic employee reductions would free up money to continue some services that council members want.
Approve my budget, and your pet projects live.
And the Chamber of Commerce weighed in Tuesday, releasing a letter that essentially endorsed Cauthen’s go-slow approach on building up the general fund balance and making structural budget changes. The letter surprised the Funkhouser camp — and was welcomed by Cauthen’s backers.
In disappointing fashion, the letter undermined the mayor’s attempt to make bold changes this year.
With so much up in the air, it’s tough to predict winners. But let’s try, keeping in mind some people will win — or lose — at the same time.
Mark Funkhouser wins if the approved budget eliminates 150 personnel positions — especially in middle management — in one year and freezes 275 positions. Those two decisions would save $17 million annually and be one huge step toward right-sizing City Hall.
Deb Hermann wins if the council approves the plan she and Marcason worked on for several weeks. But Cauthen’s supporters see Hermann’s proposal as a way for her to get back at the city manager; she voted last year against extending his contract.
Wayne Cauthen wins if he can get a council majority to defeat the Hermann/Marcason plan. Cauthen’s gradual reduction plan plays well with employees, whose unions can make life hard for council members in upcoming employee negotiations and, of course, at election time.
Terry Riley wins if he succeeds in preventing many proposed budget cuts. But Riley has offended some colleagues with his vehement questions about planned changes.
Ed Ford wins if he becomes the last-minute, go-to dealmaker at City Hall. The silver-tongued Ford already has led the council’s hasty move to keep Cauthen last year and to pass a weak smoke-free law earlier this year.
The Kansas City Zoo wins if the council cuts its budget by only $600,000, as the Herman/Marcason plan proposes. Funkhouser got plenty of negative attention by going overboard with a two-year elimination of $4.6 million in zoo funds.
Kansas City streets win if the council follows Funkhouser’s good advice and finds millions more to provide additional street repaving.
Kansas City taxpayers win if Funkhouser and the council finally decide to face reality. The city has been on an unsustainable spending binge.
It has more employees than it can afford, especially with their excessive pension and health-care benefits.
The elected officials should take dramatic actions to deal with Kansas City’s fiscal woes. That means passing a budget that eliminates some funding for the No. 1 cost of local government — city employees.
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