Spare No Taxpayer Expense for His English Obsession

Eric Crafton, the Metro Council Member who once blew a gasket on the subject of xeroxing costs, is promising to burn more taxpayer money on English Only by taking Metro to court after the Election Commission voted to keep Crafton's effort to force Metro employees to speak English always and forever off the Nov. 4 ballot.

I wish some industrious English Only opponent on Metro Council would look into how much staff time and resources have been devoted across Metro departments to preparation, consideration, and review of English Only since Eric Crafton first started pursuing the idea in 2006. Now that Crafton intends to take the matter to court, we are told that costs could be as high as $500,000 to $1 million. How much longer are Nashvillians going to tolerate being held hostage to Crafton's costly obsession? Eric Crafton is fiscally irresponsible and wasteful, and somebody should turn off his money spigot or at least dock his council paycheck for these frivolous and self-serving expenses.

Fight over Non-Profit Grant Money?

The Metro Council's Budget & Finance Committee is currently debating the non-profit grant award process in which panel reviews dictate which organizations are going to get Metro tax revenues. Given contrasting comments by Charlie Tygard and Jerry Maynard, it sounds like there is some bellyaching e-mails coming from some losing non-profits and their supporters over not having enough information about the award process and about possibly being overlooked even though their scores were higher. Metro Council will consider the awards at their next meeting.

With budget shortfalls in public services gallore, watching non-profits fight over what Mayor Dean throws them feels like slow death by a thousand tiny cuts.


UPDATE:  Buttorff follows up:

“It seemed to us that it became a process where [a nonprofit group] knew the Mayor or they knew the Council or they knew somebody,” said Metro Finance Director Richard Riebeling. “We felt there needed to be a process created that gave everybody equal footing and that’s what we think we’ve done with this.”

Tygard said that all three panels should use the same process. The Metro Council has to approve the grant awards as recommended by the Mayor’s Office.

Yesterday, Tygard said he’s going to file an amendment to alter the funding awards before the Council votes on the issue next week.

Jerry Maynard also made some reference to e-mails he is getting from a non-profits about this issue. It seems like the patronizing relationship between some non-profits and Council Members is still in place. I wonder how much lobbying is going on, and despite the Grant Coordination Director's claim that they are "building the airplane while flying it," some of the conflict of interest issues seem obvious.

Dean Talks with DMI's MayorTV.com

Nashville's Mayor discusses mass transit, English Only initiatives, green developments, and wages vs. economic "competitiveness" with DMI and The Nation:

Metro Council Approves Substitute Budget and Gives Bill Purcell a Few More Licks for Good Measure

CM Erik Cole said that public transportation was the highest priority in the substitute budget, and the Budget and Finance Committee put money for the bus routes that the Mayor eliminated back into the budget. Substitute budget provides an additional $1,000,000 for MTA. Money was also provided for magnet school students riding MTA.

Vivian Wilhoite told they council that they missed the mark on the issue that they ran on: public safety. She's voting for it, but called it "tough" with regard to supporting fire fighters. Wow. We actually have some debate on the Mayor's budget.

Charlie Tygard thanked the Mayor for his "openness and willingness to listen." He called last year's finance department numbers "bogus reality." Looks like he's using the occasion to continue his vendetta against the Purcell administration. He was out of order for focusing on Purcell and the Vice Mayor didn't stop him. And the symbolism of CM Tygard supporting Mayor Dean is ugly to me.

Michael Craddock also blamed Bill Purcell, saying that the problem was not the council's (oh yeah? What about those discretionary funds that Metro Council was in charge of last term that got spent on very few Metro services, like summer Parks programming?) and not Mayor Dean's. He totally ignored the sidewalks and other infrastructure that got funded under the Purcell administration. It's also an exaggeration to lay this year's budget challenges completely at the feet of the previous administration, which had no control over the tanking of the economy. He should have blamed George W. Bush's inept domestic policy and Republican-controlled Congresses (including the current one that is Democratic in name only).

Well, we got a minuscule amount of debate and the expected absolution and praise of Karl Dean. Substitute budget passed. Next year they won't be able to blame Bill Purcell. He should be free and clear.

Accountability from Fire Department Managers

During council proceedings, CM Michael Craddock compared a quarter of a million dollar out-of-court settlement to "a big stick" used to beat taxpayers over the head, and he maintained that someone in the Fire Department responsible for the oversight should have been fired. The council deferred the motion to settle one meeting.

Not Just Any "Cat Herd" Round-Up Tonight

The "Cat Herd" meets tonight, and look for the Mayor's budget to sail through without even the slightest hint of criticism and with a lot of self-congratulations and tributes to Mayor Dean.

Since effectively herding cats is not really hearding cows, Cowboy Karl is more of a Catboy, given his skill at driving the these "half-wild shorthairs" down the budget trail.


UPDATE: Freddie O'Connell comments that thanks to CM Erik Cole, it will not entirely be the Mayor's budget, as cuts to MTA were mitigated:

Erik Cole actually passed an amended budget out of the Budget and Finance Committee yesterday that reallocated an additional $1 million to MTA to help offset their $2.9 million budget gap. That's the only significant difference between the Council budget and the mayor's that I know of, though.

C'mon and Take a Free Ride

M. Cass points out that third and final reading of the Mayor's budget has been moved up ahead of schedule. I interpret that to mean that it will sail through with no council resistance. Talk about your soft touch. With practically no resistance at all, they are putting themselves in a seat next to Mayor Dean that could get very hot over the next 13 months.

This Is Where Mayor Dean's Budget Cuts Damage Neighborhoods Most

CM Emily Evans blogs the depressing news on the proposed cuts to Metro Planning, Libraries, and Parks. She mentions that Planning is popular with her constituents, and so I'm kind of wondering what they think of the flap over the possible discharge of neighborhood-friendly David Kleinfelter. CM Evans lets us know about cutbacks in library hours, including one of the libraries proximate to Salemtown: Looby (MetroCenter). Finally, since Parks will likely be getting a +11% cut to their budget (especially since no council members are acting like they are going to push for changes at third reading), I would like to know how that will affect restoration of the Morgan Park playground and greenway spur.

Extra Council Meeting This Week to Adopt Capital Budget

It is rare that Metro Council has back-to-back-week meetings, but on Tuesday they will meet on the heels of approving the Mayor's Budget on second reading to consider the Capital Budget. According to the Council Analysis:

ORDINANCE NO. BL2008-229 ... adopts the capital improvements budget for 2008-2009 through 2013-2014. The capital improvements budget is a planning document and does not in itself appropriate any money. All capital projects must be provided for in this document before a capital improvement can be approved by the council, except in the case of a public emergency.

In the past, the Capital Budget has been a great source of friction between members and the Mayor's Office that gave me a lot to write about. This year, with the exception of Mike Jameson, the Metro Council seems in submission to Mayor Karl Dean like pack dogs who bend to the alpha male. So, I'm not expecting too much nipping and barking on Tuesday.

We've seen little debate or dissent from Mayor Dean's agenda. That cannot be good for democracy. Even the council conservatives are hushed and lying low.

Not Very Substantively Entailing

This makes it sound like a handful of firefighters and a couple of bus drivers were the only opponents of the Mayor's budget last night. There was a long line of opponents who spoke for a long time. There was even a fair amount of anger and tears that the press usually pounces and preys upon. Most of the opponents were of the unwashed masses, so I can see how the City Paper would render them invisible especially when the journalists want to be able to maintain openings to the administration for news and when the Mayor desires a free ride on his first budget. I guess they understand on which side their bread is buttered.

Metro Council Passes Mayor's Budget on Second Reading

No debate whatsoever among council members. Looks like they're giving Mayor Dean a free ride. Remember: most bills on third reading pass easily.

Budget Opponent Gets Real with Metro Council

There is a long line of opponents to Mayor Karl Dean's plan to cut Metro Transit bus lines and raise fares tonight, but one that hit like a blunt blow across an ass's brow was that of a woman who identified herself as a convicted felon. She maintained that cutting bus lines takes away the only access that those like her (she probably wasn't referring to white-collar felons) have to get to their jobs. She indicated that the Mayor's cuts will mean more felons off the job, on the street and headed back to prison, which is exactly where she said she would end up again without saving her bus line. So, look for criminal recidivism to rise if the Council approves the Mayor's cuts. It sounds like we're going to need any "extra" (but not really "extra") money that Mayor Dean has earmarked for the police.

Soapy Time

The Mayor's budget proposal faces public hearing tomorrow night in Metro Council. Last year's public hearing proved to be contentious. We'll see if the public gives Mayor Dean more of a free ride the first time around.

Also, the Capital Improvement Budget is up for public hearing.

The big fight over shrinking amounts of money continues.

Metro's First Responder Budgets

Emily Evans blogs her latest update on the budgets proposed for police, 911 dispatch, and fire fighters. Interestingly enough, while the budget proposed for Metro Police is more than they spent last year, it is actually less than was budgeted because they spent less than was budgeted.

She relates a perspective of Police Chief Ronal Serpas that characterizes the lack of ambivalent feelings toward him in city neighborhoods:

Mike [Jameson] once declared that Serpas is so popular with the 6th District that the Chief could bite the head off a kitten and everyone would still think he was great.

List of Eliminated MTA Routes for 08-09

Cuts in the proposed Metro budget are causing Metro Transit Authority to eliminate the following bus routes:

• 1 Vine Hill
• 31X Harpeth Valley Express
• 13 Sylvan Park
• 37X Tusculum/McMurray Express
• 16 Madison/Old Hickory
• 45X Oak Hill Express 30 McFerrin
• Night Owl service

Capital Improvement Bill Passes First Reading

Here are some of the highlights of last year's capital improvement budget. Significant infrastructure.

Midnight at the Oasis: More Fallout from the Spring Hill Mirage

The Metro Council Member most qualified to evaluate proposals for Metro Water Service fee hikes did as I expected she would and came out against any proposed fee increases that don't go directly back into MWS programs. In fact, she argues that many such fee increases are illegal.

She also replied at Progressive Nashville to their proposal for funding mass transit (for more context and PN perspective see Jim Grinstead's comment below), and she divulged a piece of information that I think is much more interesting in further demythologizing the "tax-free" nirvana that the anti-tax mob sees in Spring Hill, TN. She writes:

using water and sewer rates to pay for [general fund services] is a violation of state law and possibly the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Spring Hill TN has been directed by state auditors to return $3 million from the water and sewer fund to the general fund.

We know all about those high-minded claims of "no property taxes in growing Spring Hill!" And it was plain to some that past the pep rally, Spring Hill was using fees and state grants to create the illusion that public services were free. Now it is clear that city fathers (and mothers if there are any) weren't above doing some illegal things in the name of avoiding raising property taxes.

I don't see how the Tennessee Tax Revolt can keep promoting this fallen suburban poster child in their war against urbanism and the delivery of public services. They're going to have to look somewhere else for heaven.


UPDATE: As if on cue, the Tuesday morning Tennessean has more on Spring Hill's imploding budget. Looks like no room to cut services:

Spring Hill officials will have to make a decision soon on the property tax. They have been putting together budgets that include and leave out that tax, said Mayor Danny Leverette.

"My personal take is that the with the economic situation the way it is, the sales tax is not going to be enough as far as everyday operating expenses," he said.

Leverette does not want to resort to layoffs, the avenue some governments have traveled. Metro Nashville, for instance, will lay off 200 city employees.

"We could have to cut back our services, which are bare-bones right now," he said. "We are also looking at increasing water and sewer rates, other permits and regulatory fees."

Smoke on the Water When Progressive Priorities Clash

While I appreciate good intentions of Progressive Nashville's call for a water rate increase to fund Metro Transit, I suspect that the people who know our water system inside and out will tell you that any coming raise needs to be ploughed back into our the water system itself to pay for stormwater run-off infrastructure upgrades. Those upgrades are at least as, if not more, important than mass transit, because effective stormwater run-off if the first step in the process of water treatment that eventually puts cleaner water back into the environment. I would be interested in seeing a comparison of the carbon emissions of effective stormwater run-off versus those of expanding bus lines.

Beside those reasons, Metro Water fees are already funding other people's priorities, like Phil Bredesen's commitment to service the debt of Bud Adams' pro football stadium. That's one league that Metro Transit does not need to join for the sake of their own reputation. Add to that the fact that Metro Council is probably going to pass a bill that spreads high business connection fees out over a 36-month interest free payment period (which decreases short-term revenue) to give small business owners relief, and there is not much room to help Metro Transit without extending the decade of Metro Water's hurt.

The reality of the situation is that Metro Water revenues have remained flat for years while they cut their budgets, and neighborhoods are seeing the results in MWS's inability to solve stormwater run-off problems quickly. And as water revenues continue to go elsewhere the backlog of crumbling infrastructure will mount as it gets older and buying power shrinks. So, Metro Transit should not look to MWS funds, and we should persuade Mayor Dean to take the 2006 property tax referendum to trial and get it overturned by a more enlightened court of law. We should be paying Metro Transit through higher taxes or bus fare increases (not excepting fare relief for poorer riders), rather than through Metro Water fees.

Council Member Reports Elimination of Program that Tied Department Budgets to their Customer Service

CM Emily Evans' latest dispatch from the council budget hearings divulges that the Dean Administration is eliminating Metro's internal service fees. I pointed out during his campaign for Mayor last year that his proposal to cut building space contingency would not work based on those fees. I'm not sure whether he is following through with plans to cut space contingency and I don't know if moving away from internal fees makes a difference with space contingency now. It seems to me that someone still has to pay for Metro's empty office spaces to be maintained.

The more troubling news on Ms. Evans' blog is the elimination of a performance management program that tied department budget allocations to how well they served their customers. So, what exactly will budgets be tied to in the future? And how are department heads going to be held accountable? For instance, if the Parks Department fails to fulfill their promise to have Morgan Park's full playground installed by this summer, then how does the community hold them accountable without some customer service criteria? What may sound like a good idea from a bureaucratic perspective does not seem to bode well for neighborhoods.

Your Gut Check Is in the Woods

Lately, the only local presser that I know of with any fortitude in challenging Karl Dean's administration is the Scene's Jeff Woods. And I quote:

Just about everyone familiar with the city's finances figures a tax hike will be needed next year to avoid some serious slashing of spending ....

Dean did say during last year's election campaign that he wouldn't raise taxes as mayor. But breaking that promise is inevitable. With the kinds of comments he's making, he'll eventually damage his credibility with voters, and he's going to need it. When the time for the tax increase arrives, he'll have to mount a big campaign to persuade the public that the city needs more money. Then, how's he going to explain away all those times he said the government could manage its way out of trouble?

In this week's hard copy, Woods eloborates in exhaustive detail what Dean's only real options are (I'll take what's behind door #2, Monte, and let the Tennessee Tax Revolt go to hell both for the saddle they strapped on Nashville in 2006 and for their damned silence now on adequate solutions to our pending budget crisis). His conclusion is ominous:

Dean’s first budget cuts haven’t caused much anguish. Likely few, if any, of the workers targeted for layoffs will wind up on the street; almost all of them will fill vacant positions elsewhere in the government. The transit authority is probably going to cut bus routes and raise fares, and public works won’t make quite as many trips into your neighborhood to chop up your fallen tree limbs. Otherwise, the public won’t much notice.

But the mayor is fooling himself—and the public—if he thinks this budget year is as hard as it’s going to get. This is the easy part.