City Councilman and Mayor candidate Jim Vokal put out a document with his proposed budget cuts this afternoon.
Vokal says that the cuts will add up to $5.2 million in savings for the city.
We didn't see the doc in the online version of the paper, so take a look at the details right here (and provide your comments):
Posts
16 comments:
This is leadership Jim Vokal???? Where were you over the past 7 years Jim??? Oh it's time to run for mayor so now we submit a budget plan. Jim's proposal is same smoke and mirrors Fahey used with the Fire and Police Pensions, and the Qwest Center/Hotel debt. Jim has over 2 million dollars in deffered items that will either cost more to maintain and will also have to be eventually be replaced. Sorry Jim Vokal, republicans won't be fooled with your bogus plan.
Now that's what I call economic stimulus.
Hal Daub left this city on a sound financial footing. Jim Vokal's leadership on the council has left the city broke and caused us to lose our AAA bond rating. Nice Job Jim.
I'm eager for the race to really begin. I've been unimpressed by the three announced candidates. Hopefully at least one will be able to to paint a compelling (and realistic) picture of where the city will be in four years.
Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy...Where do I begin? As others have pointed out, where has your "leadership" been on issues like this in the past eight years?
What about at the budgets hearings on these issues as recently as last summer?
On personnel issues- why weren't any of these positions questioned when approving the 2009 budget?
If the Human Relations Director position is eliminated, who would run the department? (If you say the former director that just took a step down for a civil service protected position, then why not use the same reasoning and make a similar proposal for the Parks Department?)
Your "leadership" of deferring over $3 million on equipment purchases (which accounts for 60% of your "cuts")just puts a heavier burden on future budgets and does not take in to account the cost of deferred maintenance of the existing equipment. Or, again, if it was expendable at this point, why wasn't it so when approving the 2009 budget?
Your "leadership" has put our city in a position where there are no cash reserves. This fact is part of the reason we lost our AAA bond rating.
One last rant...(and I admit this may be nit picking). It was obvious that you did not mention that you were running for mayor in the press release. I suppose you did that so that you could defend using city employees and resources when compiling your cuts. (Maybe a lesson learned from your last city council race when you used your city office in a commercial.) However, your contact person should probably have been Warren Weaver, not Jordache McGrain.
What's disappointing about Vokal and the rest of the announced mayoral candidates (are you listening Hal?)is that none of them have yet to annouce that "we"...meaning themselves while in office...have spent outselves into a hole that is going to take a long time to fill. They all have embraced grandiose plans/projects that never were financially sound in the first place. The candidate that first says he's going to renegotiate/abrogate the new stadium contract plus puts a stake through the heart of a downtown trolley system gets my vote.
OmaSteak, with do respect...Qwest is doing finacially very well. The hotel, which was done by the current Mayor, is the one that has serios issues, like having an interest only bond mature in 2011. Think of the additional expense we will face on those payments if we don't have a AAA bond rating again.
Our downtown stadium never should have been on Lot D or where it ended up on Lots C & E. We are seeing the results of that with no retail being a part of the deal.
I'll leave the trolley alone for now. I too need to be convinced of it's merits and on going costs.
Qwest is doing very well??? MECA is still getting $2 million per year from the city and not one penny of the debt has yet to be repaid. If that's success, the $200 million downtown ballpark and $75 million trolley line make perfect sense. Plus we can just take the $1-$1.5 billion sewer separation and $300-$500 million in underfunded pensions out of petty cash.
I have heard that firefighters and police officers can retire in their early 50's with big fat pensions the rest of their lives. Is this true? I admire the job they do and consider all of them brave heroes and they should be paid well but isn't this too much?
I was wondering what organizations will lose funding under the 20% reduction in Keno spending. Can the Vokal campaign specify where the cuts will be made?
viv-i-section The act of cutting into or dissecting the body of a living animal.
When I first read the title
"Vokal's vivisection" I thought it was referring to all the dogs that have been shot and blown to pieces by Omaha Police, most in Vokal's district of which Vokal has done nothing about!
Yeah, but those dogs were jus asking for it.
The city only lost one of its AAA ratings, not both. Research will show that the agency downgrading it recently changed its standards leading to the downgrade.
The pensions are without a doubt bigger problems than the potentially self-sustaining structures...
Yeah, M. Vick, those dogs were just askin for it. Especially the 13 year old arthritic, cataract-laden German Shepherd on 48th & Hickory last August. But then again we have Mrs. Vokal who volunteers at the Humane Society. What a crock. She must have outgrown the Junior League.
Yes, the Qwest is doing very well. It's the convention center that is the money pit. Too bad everyone called us responsible people "naysayers" back when we tried to warn you irresponsible "leaders" that nobody wants to come here for a convention. Arena - good idea. Convention center - if you backed that, you are an idiot. Omaha. Convention. What were you people thinking?
For those of want real change. check out this.
he will renegotiate/abrogate the new stadium contract. Also he does not think we dont need a downtown trolley system. A Quote "And cutting our police force during a crime wave is not the right direction"
Also "Crime in this city cannot continue to go unchecked, and the “I can’t” mentality must be brought to a swift end. It time for the criminal element to realize who is in charge."
Those are quotes from the websites
www.changeforomaha.com
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