Balance Phoenix's budget first, then talk about reform
- Ed Zuercher%3A A budget is like taking a trip%3B you make choices about best way to reach destination
- Phasing in pension costs preserves services for Phoenix residents
- Employees continue to provide for our safety%2C family support%2C waste collection and recreation
Every holiday when my wife and I take our kids to see family in Kansas, we have choices to make.
We know we have a certain amount of time to get there, visit and get home. There are many factors involved in our decision; those we make in advance and those we make along the way. Will there be bad or good weather along the route? Should we stay on I-40 or take the two-lane roads through western Kansas? Should we save time and fly and, if so, will it be affordable?
Every time the destination is the same, but we make different choices about how to get there.
The same decision-making is true for the city's budget. The destination is a balanced budget and it's just a matter of how we get there.
The kicker is that we want to preserve all of the important services that our residents value while we ascertain long-term solutions to long-term issues like pension funding and reform.
Our Phoenix mayor and City Council have been aggressively reforming the city's civilian pension system within legal limits.
But the state public safety pension system, of which we have no control, needs to be fixed in the same way. We need to keep the promises made to first responders, ensure the sound fiscal management of the retirement systems and preserve important services.
The trial budget chooses to phase in public safety pension costs over three years. This path allows us added time to seek shared solutions without making unnecessary cuts to vital services.
While we fix the pension system, let's not ignore what we've achieved through the leadership of our elected officials, the hard work of our employees and the cooperation of our residents: a balanced General Fund budget for 2015-16.
How did we do this? The keys to our success have been the council's actions to cut vacant positions early, a second year of employee concessions, our continued zero-based budget reviews of city programs and aggressive savings by staff.
Our process has allowed us to identify some General Fund resources to fund police officer training as well as non-General Fund resources for services like:
— Opening the light rail extension to 19th Avenue and Dunlap.
— Increasing noise support services at Sky Harbor.
— Opening a composting facility to divert tons of green waste from the landfill.
— Maintaining new trail heads in our beautiful desert preserves.
— Providing faster, better service for building permits and inspections.
— Even through the past years of reduced resources, employees continue to provide for our safety, family support, waste collection and recreation. For example:
— Meals are being delivered to seniors in need.
— Kids are taking swimming lessons at community pools.
— Unemployed residents are gaining employable skills in the workforce development program.
Our employees make this happen in partnership with the community. That cannot go unnoticed.
We have options on how to get to our destination, which is a balanced budget while offering important services at an affordable cost. The trial budget chooses a path that preserves services today while enabling us to tackle our long-term pension obligations with sound fiscal management.
I invite the public to give us input through email, phone or the upcoming public meetings. The schedule and contact information is available at phoenix.gov/budget.
Together we will choose the right path.
Ed Zuercher is city manager of Phoenix.