This was published in response to a blog posting by thebigshmoog
It is a very good outline of Letcher's response to the budget woes.
Here is my two cents worth (also below his posting as a comment if you just want to read it there):
Great job Peter! Let us also remember the lessons you have outlined here when the budget comes out and Tucsonan's can vote in memory of what is proposed. The rent tax is ridiculous. If there is going to be any increased taxation it needs to be in the form of increased sales tax. This is the fairest tax and would not need to be raised that much. Sales tax also get all those who live outside the city, but work or shop inside the city. It includes the illegal aliens as well. Tucson enjoys a very low sales tax rate in comparison to the surrounding municipalities.
We keep annexing more land and as we get more land to police, the number of Police is shrinking. Police and Fire can't even keep up with attrition. You cut retirement services to Police and Fire and those eligible for retirement who planned on staying a few more years are starting to retire now before the changes take effect so they aren't included in the cuts. Meanwhile you slate only two police academies for the year, with no promises they will actually be funded or occur.
As for the public perception of Tucson being dirty, thats just a line. If he really cared about cleaning up the city he would institute city code restricting Vagrancy, squatting on public and private land and public drunkenness. You' d do like most cities our size and have a drunk tank where those arrested could sleep it off. How many homeless camps do we need to clean up of their discarded bottles, needles and other trash before we realize they are a big part of the litter problem. Thats not to mention the crime they are responsible for.
Want more money? Tell the court to stop suspending the fines of those found responsible for civil and misdemeanor offenses. After all, thats part of the punishment. I'm tired of hearing how broke we are and then hear "I find you responsible, but will suspend the fine" At least collect the fine to gather the money it took to bring the Officer or Inspector to be there on their day off.
Want yet another Idea? Run our own Jail. We'd have to build it (oh look, work for construction workers), but we could run it for 1/2 to 1/3 of what the County charges us. Part of it could be that drunk tank I mentioned before.
Another idea? Ok, why not? The city has a contract with Gary's towing to tow and store cars for the newest 30-day impound law. We get a small fine from the driver, but Gary's has become very wealthy collecting the pickup, transfer and storage fees. We have the land, start doing this yourself and then you collect the fees. This won't make Police any more motivated to tow for thirty day either, because the way the law is written has taken motivation out of it. If the criteria are met (such as the driver of a car has a suspended license) then the Officer must impound it. There is no discretion in the matter. The only difference, the city gets the money and we create jobs for tow truck drivers and lot attendants as well. Sure Gary's loses their income from the city, but that is the free enterprise system. I say "Oh well, let them get contracts with DPS and PCSO" AS for the new tow trucks we'd need to buy and maintain. They'd be paid for in a few months and the maintenance is a drop in the bucket. If we started with only a few trucks and waited to buy we could by some from Gary's as their volume decreases and they don't need all those trucks any more.
And hey, this is just one city employee throwing out ideas related to what he see in the scope of his work. I am sure there are a lot more ways to cut costs or bring in revenue out there.
We keep annexing more land and as we get more land to police, the number of Police is shrinking. Police and Fire can't even keep up with attrition. You cut retirement services to Police and Fire and those eligible for retirement who planned on staying a few more years are starting to retire now before the changes take effect so they aren't included in the cuts. Meanwhile you slate only two police academies for the year, with no promises they will actually be funded or occur.
As for the public perception of Tucson being dirty, thats just a line. If he really cared about cleaning up the city he would institute city code restricting Vagrancy, squatting on public and private land and public drunkenness. You' d do like most cities our size and have a drunk tank where those arrested could sleep it off. How many homeless camps do we need to clean up of their discarded bottles, needles and other trash before we realize they are a big part of the litter problem. Thats not to mention the crime they are responsible for.
Want more money? Tell the court to stop suspending the fines of those found responsible for civil and misdemeanor offenses. After all, thats part of the punishment. I'm tired of hearing how broke we are and then hear "I find you responsible, but will suspend the fine" At least collect the fine to gather the money it took to bring the Officer or Inspector to be there on their day off.
Want yet another Idea? Run our own Jail. We'd have to build it (oh look, work for construction workers), but we could run it for 1/2 to 1/3 of what the County charges us. Part of it could be that drunk tank I mentioned before.
Another idea? Ok, why not? The city has a contract with Gary's towing to tow and store cars for the newest 30-day impound law. We get a small fine from the driver, but Gary's has become very wealthy collecting the pickup, transfer and storage fees. We have the land, start doing this yourself and then you collect the fees. This won't make Police any more motivated to tow for thirty day either, because the way the law is written has taken motivation out of it. If the criteria are met (such as the driver of a car has a suspended license) then the Officer must impound it. There is no discretion in the matter. The only difference, the city gets the money and we create jobs for tow truck drivers and lot attendants as well. Sure Gary's loses their income from the city, but that is the free enterprise system. I say "Oh well, let them get contracts with DPS and PCSO" AS for the new tow trucks we'd need to buy and maintain. They'd be paid for in a few months and the maintenance is a drop in the bucket. If we started with only a few trucks and waited to buy we could by some from Gary's as their volume decreases and they don't need all those trucks any more.
And hey, this is just one city employee throwing out ideas related to what he see in the scope of his work. I am sure there are a lot more ways to cut costs or bring in revenue out there.
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