Written by Denis Law delivered his first budget proposal to us last night. He did an excellent job on the presentation, and my first impression is that the budget does a good job of achieving essential levels of service in a very difficult financial year. Denis proposed a number of position freezes, in which we leave openings vacant, but has formulated a budget which appears to require no layoffs. He also has not tapped the rainy day fund; although he does take appropriate advantage of multi-year funding streams, such as equipment rental funds, to ensure the city continues to operate smoothly.
Tomorrow I am taking the day off from Boeing to spend eight hours going through the budget details with the rest of my council colleagues. We will surely have questions for the mayor, and his department heads, as we make Denis’s budget into a council budget.
I’m sure the end product will not be vastly different from what was proposed; we have been working different aspects of the proposal over the last few months, and Denis and his team have outstanding management skills and a good understanding of council priorities.
I was impressed to hear the list of things we have accomplished in 2008, even with the souring economy.
Here is Denis’s complete budget message along with highlights of his proposed budget. The total spending under this plan would be 2% higher than the 2008 budget.
>>And our continued emphasis on Renton Heart Month, to help educate our employees and the public on best ways to respond to heart-attack warnings, resulted in saving the life of one of our residents.
This is really impressive! Whoever came up with this idea and it’s implementation needs a pat on the back. Thanks to the city workers, mayor and council for allowing such a cost-effective and novel idea to be implemented.
If this is emblematic of the cleverness of the current city government, then we’re in good hands.