Kind of tangentially related to development, but this will allow the city to borrow more easily for development whenever it needs to. For the first time in nearly ten years, after years of cutting to the bone and then some of the bone, itself, Lansing has a balanced budget. Along with the cuts, property and income tax revenues are finally starting to pick back up. It'll be very interesting to see county populations estimates out later this week.
Quote:
Bernero: Lansing budget is 'balanced, cautious'
By Lindsay Vanhulle | Lansing State Journal
March 24, 2014
For the first time since he was elected in 2005, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero won’t have to cut staff or services from the city’s budget.
The $118.5 million spending plan Bernero presented Monday for the 2015 fiscal year that starts July 1 will start without a deficit. Instead, he said, it reflects a return to short-term financial stability and makes modest investments in key public services — namely, roads and police.
Lansing will need to avoid the temptation of overspending as revenues, primarily from property and income taxes, start to recover after falling during the recession, Bernero said. And the city will need to be aggressive in addressing its long-term costs, including pensions and retiree health care.
“It’s a hold-the-line budget, but it’s not a stay-the-course budget,” Bernero told reporters after his presentation. “We’ve survived. Now the question is: Will we thrive?”
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Good on Virg. He's had to do a lot of things he'd rather not have done, but what could have been a city on a painfully slow death spiral is one that has managed to hold itself together, albeit, not completely unscathed from the forces bigger than itself. What I will say, though, is that the parks have been hit
hard over the decade. There is a noticeable difference in upkeep and maintenance. I hope that we can continue to stabilize, but when we start growing that some of that money gets plowed back into the parks.
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