It’s All About the Benjamin’s

I'm now of the assumption that this will be a looming topic throughout the semester: money, money, money. It seems that virtually every meeting I attend eventually circles back to the topic. The State of Arizona is broke, the City of Phoenix is broke, virtually every other city in the Valley is broke and the outlook for the near future does not offer much hope. And when there is a lack of resources the infighting begins, though typically it is behind closed doors and not in public.

And now cuts are coming. According to this article by Scott Wong of the Arizona Republic, "The City Manager's Office would face nearly a 30 percent cut, losing about $720,000. Meanwhile, Mayor Phil Gordon's office would be slashed by 25 percent, or $522,000, while offices for the eight other council members would see a 24 percent cut, totaling more than $1 million." And the most controversial cuts are those to public safety (police and fire).

Citing Scott Wong again, the proposed cuts to police and fire would be, "The Police Department would lose about 353 sworn positions, from patrol officers to assistant chiefs. The Fire Department would cut 144 sworn jobs." The City of Phoenix has never laid off sworn police or fire employees. It is in this context that the city proposed, and passed a 2% food tax on Phoenicians to help mitigate the budget shortfall and to help keep these positions.

One thing that is certain though is this will not be the last post from me regarding budgetary issues and their fallouts.