Over the past week I have been looking at the CAFR – the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for 2009 that will be discussed at the upcoming city council meeting on July 12.  It has been interesting comparing that report with the 2007 report.

A couple of items that I have noted is that the city took in an additional $2 million in property taxes compared to 2007, in the midst of foreclosures, vacant homes and businesses closing.  It is no wonder that many residents have complained about their taxes going up!

The other thing that I have noticed is that over the past four years we have seen an increase of our long-term interest.  It has jumped from around $118,000 to what it was at the end of 2009, to almost a million.  This is just the interest!  What happened to common sense spending?  What happened to budgeting?  What happened to cutting our budget to live within our means?  This council needs to get this under control, immediately, or we will be unable to fund our basic services.  We can not depend on the federal or state government to bail us out.

Monday’s meeting will be interesting but could be very long.

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