Local governments need to act today for financial stability later

As you look around the country and even in our state, local governments have begun to take swift and decisive action for the ultimate budget problems we have had and will have in the future. They are preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. Their citizens will be better for these very transparent and crucial decisions as it will ease them into the financial instability they are about to encounter.

There are two parts to this budget crisis, administrative action and legislative action. Both should be taken immediately and with an eye towards swift and responsive decisions that will affect finances today.

Administrative action is taken by the executive in charge of government. Here in this county, that person is appointed for all local governments by the legislative body. The executive should take immediate action to reduce any expenses administratively that do not affect levels of service or policy already enacted by the legislative body. If they identify an expenditure or policy that needs to be reversed and does not affect health, safety, and welfare levels of service, they should bring that policy or decision immediately to the legislative body.

Legislative oversight of the executive is crucial to ensure that the executive is doing everything he or she can to make cuts and prepare the community. Meeting immediately and transparently to review the administrative actions, review policies, and spending decisions is crucial. Every month that passes will make it harder later to remain financially stable.

Timing is absolutely everything. Every decision, and especially the time in which it is made, has an effect upon the angle of the trajectory of the financial health of a government. The longer you put off an important budget cutting decision, the less financially effective it is long-term. The goal of the executive and legislative bodies should be a glide path into budget problems instead of falling off of a financial cliff.

Immediately, there will be a drop in sales tax and tourist tax money. Long term, property values will likely be affected. Government can and should prepare now. Some are proactive and some are not.

According to the Miami Herald, over three weeks ago on April 11th, the City of Miami Beach furloughed 35 employees and laid off 258 part-time employees. Miami Beach had $16 million in a rainy day fund when they took this action, but they predict they will also have to dip into emergency reserves.

Locally, the City of Venice took immediate executive action and openly reported it at a city council meeting in March. This past week, they legislatively reviewed their current budget with COVID-19 projections in a detailed 60-page report.

The City of North Port’s City mayor also brought the question of budget direction directly to her commission for policy feedback. In the city manager’s memo to the commission for Mayor McDowell, he appropriately wrote, “The financial health of our city is our fiduciary responsibility. Any changes made now, to the FY 19/20 budget, will advance our efforts as we prepare for post-COVID-19 recovery in the upcoming FY 20/21 budget cycle. This agenda item was prepared as a springboard to have a pro-active conversation with my fellow commissioners and give clear direction to our city manager.”

Amen.

Congratulations to Venice for being open, transparent, pro-active, and thoughtful both administratively and legislatively. North Port is poised to get there quickly as well.

Unfortunately, while we have seen executive action in other local governments, the lack of urgency within their legislative bodies is disturbing. We encourage immediate local government legislative budget review and action today as every business in Sarasota County has already done this past month. Convene an emergency meeting if necessary.

Now is the time to deal with this and face what your citizens are facing. Don’t make this harder for us later.

Christine Robinson is executive director of the Argus Foundation and was on the Sarasota County Commission from 2010 to 2016. Contact her at christine@argusfoundation.org.