The Sioux Falls 2011 budget; A lot of unknowns.

It’s hard to be critical of Mayor Huether’s 2011 budget when you read a statement like this, which just leaves you scratching your head;

Huether said he has made room for the proposed events center and streets – two major issues he ran on during the election.

Well, first off, the 2nd penny is supposed to be mainly for streets and infrastructure, so at least the new mayor gets that part of it, but squeezing in an Events Center when we are expecting zero growth in tax revenue? I can’t wait to see how he proposes to do that.

And it seems Vernon ‘The Sweet Velvet Hammer’ Brown hasn’t figured out what tax dollars are for?

Veteran Councilor Vernon Brown said he preferred the performance-based budget, which is result-oriented and uses goals and objectives to explain why money is being spent. “We live in a time with limited resources and unlimited wants and needs in city government,” he said. “Are we providing a level of service that customers expect and that the citizens are willing to pay for?”

In other words, Brown prefers we spend every last cent as it comes in. He also seems to be under the impression that the citizens are being very well served for our taxdollars. I think I bumped my head on my office base board while rolling around on the floor laughing at that statement, so if what I write seems a little goofy, please forgive me. While I agree our parks and public safety are top notch in Sioux Falls, I struggle with denying citizens constitutional rights as a ‘service’ to us. Something Brown defends, as long as we are ‘safe.’ While I may not be a big fan of Subprime Mike, he still makes more sense then Brown.

Which leads us to Bob Litz, who scares me even more;

Councilor Bob Litz told the new councilors that they have to go with their gut. “Trust me, you people have the intuition. You just have to rely on it,” he said.

While I make a lot of life decisions based on my ‘gut’ I try to make my personal budget decisions based on this little thing I call ‘math’. I wonder if Bob builds houses based on ‘gut’ feelings.

“I suppose I’ll just cut this stud right here, sure, I could measure it, but my gut tells me it is about 8 foot and 3/4 inches”