By Greg Olson

With the elections behind us for another two years, fresh calls now arise from the sidelines to not just keep city tax increases under control, but to freeze them to 2008 levels. The latest justification is the condition of the economy. These are tough times; as tough as most of us have seen in our respective lifetimes. But for the more vocal proponents, there has never been a time when lower city taxes wasn’t the solution for whatever has ailed us. For their purposes, one set of circumstances is as opportune as the next.

Worthy of note is that several of our sitting City Council members ran on the theme of reducing the burden of city government on our most endangered (but somehow enduring) of species – the taxpayer. Despite the protracted wrangling that the council went through on this topic in 2007 – and no less with the assistance of a citizen Budget Advisory Commission, not all that much in the way of cuts could be identified. What could this mean?

To me, the first thing it means is that when a group of competent people come together with the intent of doing the right thing for people to whom they feel accountable, they usually do just that. We have very competent people on our City Council, and I know that we’ve had good people serving us in that capacity for many years. After all, we elected them, didn’t we? In all the years I have lived and worked in this town, I can’t think of a single mayor or council person whose competence and integrity I would question. I feel the same about our professional staff. We should be proud of them all.

The second thing it means is that when you talk about “freezing” the budget, you’re really talking about reducing services. “Pipes, Public Safety and Parks” it says on the EP Taxpayers [Alliance] Web site. Well, what about pavement? Come to think of it, how about pedestrians? Are we doing anything to help people be less reliant on cars? How about the quality and sustainability of our water usage? A radical course of action is a lot more exciting, than a merely rational one, but more often than not, they leave us worse off, because in such cases we fail to anticipate the real costs. Advocating for a freeze in the city’s budget without a critical examination of how that would affect the services that this community relies on would run exactly this kind of risk. What sort of cuts would partisans such as the EP Taxpayers Alliance recommend? Their Web site says nothing in this regard.

It’s been pointed out that foreclosures in our community are way up. That’s true. But that wasn’t caused by increasing property taxes. And if you were to completely eliminate taxes for those unfortunate residents, chances are they still would have lost their homes. But here’s something to consider. As more homes become vacated through foreclosures, demand for public safety services rise, and it doesn’t take long before you notice the difference. How do you freeze property taxes in that environment?

If our council and staff were to commit to a freeze in the budget, then how would they fund future expenditures for the “20-40-15” initiative, which is designed to generate significant reductions in our city’s fuel and energy costs?

I am not excited at the prospect of a rise in my property taxes. I’ve never met anyone who is. However, I believe that before we decide on what is an appropriate level of taxation, we must examine whether and how we are getting full value for the resources we are entrusting to our local government. That examination should be in light of the values we want our city to reflect. Further, we must not only respond to the circumstances we face now, but also within the context of our long-term vision. Otherwise, we’re just reacting from one crisis to the next. That is a sure prescription for creating more problems than we solve, and facing even greater difficulties in controlling our future costs. We cannot be masters of our own collective fate, on such a course.

These aren’t easy times. It calls for more accountability than ever before on the part of our council and staff in how they apply our resources. But we must also give them a free hand, with which to use their best judgment in doing the job we asked them to do. To anyone concerned about the cost of local government services, including members of EP Taxpayers Alliance, now is the time to get focused on the more important questions – what are we getting for the resources we entrust to our city? Does our city’s budget truly reflect our community’s values? Armchair quarterbacking won’t get the job done. We all must do our part.

Greg Olson is a resident of Eden Prairie.