Levels of Service

Nearly 70 percent of the City’s likely voters recently told pollsters that they would exchange a slight increase in the local sales tax for higher City spending on more police officers and prosecutors and more maintenance in the parks - especially if the higher sales tax kept city trash pick-up free.

(Shortly, the state-controlled Board of Police Commissioners is going to ask City government to increase its budget yet again. I am open to that - as long as we know that in return for more money, we will see less crime.)

I am not going to announce a tax campaign in a blog - or without seeing the other options that are available. But, every option - including higher taxes, the leveraging of assets, revised employee benefits, new/increased fees-for-service, and cost-saving regional agreements - has to be on the table.

Voters, of course, will have the final say about the sorts and level of services they expect from government.