A Matter of Priorities

After reflecting on the decision by council to send BOTH Lanman and Sauceda to Austin at taxpayer expense to pursue four million dollars of debt for the city, I am left confused. Where is the sense of priority with our elected officials? We elect them to serve Marfa with all the wisdom they can muster, and this is the best they can do?

For two years Sauceda and Lanman, along with council, have failed to pass a budget in time or raise taxes to fund the city. This summer was misspent by Lanman's pursuit of a landfill instead of doing budget work along a schedule recommended by the state comptroller. The state appoints the mayor of a city as the Budget Officer and gives this person ultimate responsibility for adopting and managing the city's budget. Sauceda is unaware of tax hike laws and botched any attempt to raise taxes this year. Lanman is so offensive that he told a councilmember to "buzz away" before a crucial last-ditch special meeting of council to deal with all the city's finances.

Both Lanman and Sauceda failed to familiarize themselves with laws regarding adoption of a budget. One could possibly forgive Budget Officer Lanman when he blew the budget in his rookie year, but this was his second time around. There is no excuse this year for Lanman or our professional and experienced administrator. At the public notice for the budget on the 28th of September, I asked council to make motions and vote on petitions being made by various groups for inclusion in the budget. Lanman and Sauceda reprimanded me saying that this was a public hearing and that no action could be taken. I read the Local Government Code again on budget public hearings and learned that not only is action allowed, it is required! Marfa was legally bound to take action on the budget at the end of the hearing. They had quorum. All they lacked was a motion, a second and a vote--that and basic competent knowledge of the law. The opportunity slipped away due to a lack of familiarity with governing laws. I firmly believe that if they had read the law, we could have passed a budget before the year began. I also believe that if Lanman had not insulted Chavez, quorum would have been possible at the Friday meeting on the 29th allowing for a possible increase in property taxes. The incompetence of Sauceda and rudeness of Lanman has seriously hurt this city and its employees.

So here we are on the verge of November 2006, and we have not had a reading and discussion of the budget since mid-September. The next meeting of the council is not until November 14th. Council tabled work on the budget at the recent meeting on recommendation of Lanman and Sauceda. Sauceda claims that he has not prepared an updated revision of the budget to reflect huge changes to our financial situation including loss of anticipated tax revenue, loss of gas company revenue, elimination of bogus Stone Garden funds, and the proposed reductions demanded from each department head. He has done nothing since the first draft of the budget in August. Budget Officer Lanman has done nothing at all on the budget.

Now council is sending them on a wild goose chase to Austin to find the golden egg of easy borrowed money. Shame on you council. First things first. Address the financial emergency facing the city. Get your ducks lined up. Balance your checkbook. Prepare a budget and stick to it. Pay your bills on time. Compensate emergency personnel appropriately. Council has no business authorizing the city to take out a huge debt while they allow Sauceda to mismanage the finances and Lanman to ignore his budget duties. This is unwise and irresponsible.

Council should take notice that at least 57 people don't trust Sauceda with a five dollar bill for EMS. We sure don't trust him with four million dollars! Please stop this nonsense. After you have addressed the current financial crisis, you have an obligation to provide quality water and sewer service. Public works generates a surplus of $250,000 a year that is robbed to pay general administration expenses. We already have the money to pay for improvements to public works in the public works revenue. Borrowing four million dollars while ignoring all of the city's finances is foolish.

Let me offer an alternative way of approaching this situation. First we need to define the problems. We need a prioritized list of problems with our water system and wastewater system. For each of these problems, we need to come up with three different options for improving the problem. These could range from stopgap emergency patches to moderate improvements to widescale replacements. Council should debate these tradeoffs and make choices based on recommendations from Robert Silva and the financial impact. Then, one problem at a time, we should put these projects out for competitive bid. Our first priority should be funding these Public Works projects from the $250,000 in "profit" generated by Public Works. Debt should not be taken lightly. Our problems did not happen overnight and they will not be fixed overnight. A fast-buck quick-fix solution involving big-debt sounds sexy but is irresponsible. A long-term plan based on priorities and fiscal responsibility and patience is the proper way to run a government.

Note: Conversations with Carl Robinson inspired the previous paragraph.

Chasing after easy money from lenders without a comprehensive plan is a recipe for disaster. This administration likes to play favorites. There is a favorite architect. There is a favorite auditor. There is a favorite engineering firm. I get worried when I see our fiscally irresponsible mayor and administrator get their hands on a large pile of money with no clear plan but prepared to dole money to favored vendors. This type of process is ripe for corruption and mismanagement in any government situation. If we have a lot of easy money at hand, we will spend it easily and pay it back with difficulty. If we recognize that we should spend no more than part of the surplus generated by public works, then we will act more frugally and more responsibly out of necessity.

Council, please look at the big picture. We are depending on you to manage things effectively. Citizens, please talk to our elected councilmembers. These are friends and neighbors that most of you have known all your life. These council members asked for our trust, and we give it to them. Please let them know how you feel about our finances. Are they doing a good job? I trust that they will respond to citizen feedback. As it is, they seem to be following the lead of Lanman and Sauceda, and we know where that road leads: an even bigger financial mess than the one we are in now. Beware the quick fixes based on easy debt. It is a matter of priorities.