Better Able or Less Able, That is the Question

Received another flyer from one of the Brentwood City Commission incumbents in the mail today and once again they are touting the following: "It is estimated that over 80% of US cities have financial troubles."

At least two of the incumbents (and possibly all three) have used this statistic as a reason for their re-election but they fail to cite the source of the data. We wanted to look into it.

The source is the National League of Cities, an organization based in Washington, D.C. The City Fiscal Conditions Survey was mailed to 530 finance managers in cities with populations in excess of 50,000. A total of 156 finance managers responded for a response rate of 29%. So the data was not compiled among cities of Brentwood's size (35,000) -- although Brentwood is a member of the NLC. Results from the survey, conducted from December 2008 through January 2009, show that the finance managers in 84% of the cities believe their cities are "less able to meet current needs than one year ago".

The most common response to the situation, according to the study, is that 69% of the cities have instituted a hiring freeze and/or staff layoffs. Brentwood has clearly not had to resort to laying off employees, but have there been many new hires coming on board? Some employees are being reassigned to other departments during the slowdown. It will be interesting to see the schedule of raises and benefits when the fiscal year 2009-2010 budget is released soon. 

Perhaps the most interesting fact from the report is how the cities are trying to bolster their revenues to meet their expenses. Only 14% are raising property taxes, 6% are raising sales taxes, and none are raising income taxes. What IS being done? Well, 49% report increasing the level of fees and charges for service. In addition, 28% also report increasing the number of fees and charges. Twenty-three percent are targeting fee increases for new development.

An article by Tami Luhby on CNNMoney.com that cited the study in February concluded with the following sentence: 

"City finances tend to lag the overall economy by 12 to 24 months, the league said. The weakening economic conditions will be felt by cities through 2009 and likely through most of 2010, the league said."

So, Brentwood has raised fees to meet infrastructure needs (ongoing sewer rehab project passed in March 2008), is in the midst of a de-facto hiring freeze, and has targeted fee increases for new development (sewer and water tap fee increases in 2008). Do city officials refute the idea that the city is "less able to meet current needs than one year ago" as the survey asks? It doesn't mean that the city CANNOT meet current needs -- just that its ability to do so as compared to the previous year is reduced. 

Since the survey only offers the choices "Better Able" or "Less Able", where would Brentwood fall if it fit into the 50,000+ population cities chosen to complete the survey? How would our city finance manager or city manager answer? Apparently the incumbents are stating that Brentwood is "Better able to meet current needs than one year ago". Do you agree?