By Phil Young

The operating budget for the city of Eden Prairie has grown substantially over the last seven years and now stands at around $40,000,000. In a time of low inflation, low to moderate private sector wage growth, and the end of Eden Prairie’s growth boom and the easy money generated by it, fiscal discipline by the City Council is increasingly important. Annual budget increases of 6 to 8 percent simply are not sustainable over the long term and must be moderated.

The good news is that budget growth can be moderated without taking police officers off the street, letting streets fall apart, under-paying city employees, closing parks, or doing any of the other things which critics like to threaten whenever the subject of fiscal discipline is raised. The reality is that Eden Prairie will never be a low service or low tax city; but, there’s no reason we need to continue leading our peer cities in per capita taxation. 

The first step in controlling budget growth is electing leaders who ask questions and aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo. I think the city has made good progress in this regard. This year, for example, Council Members Jon Duckstad and Brad Aho have suggested temporarily suspending our annual levy of $1 million for capital improvements in order to cushion the impact to the budget because of increased costs associated with the Community Center expansion. Council Member Kathy Nelson has also given some consideration to a temporary reduction of this levy. But, irrespective of what decision the council ultimately makes, even just debating an idea like this makes our process better.

The second step in controlling budget growth is making the budget process more open with more opportunities for citizen input. Our process today, with preliminary budgets in the spring, multiple council workshops talking about the budget, and input from the newly formed citizens Budget Advisory Commission, is much better than when I joined the council in 2003. Council Member Sherry Butcher has been an important supporter of this improved process.

The third step in controlling budget growth is execution – defining the city’s mission and expending public funds towards that mission in the most prudent manner possible. Does this mean taking cops off the street or letting streets fall apart? Of course not. But, it should include the following: 1) looking for efficiencies and controlling the expansion of city services into non-core functions; 2) providing services regionally or in partnership with other taxing jurisdictions where possible; 3) establishing metrics as a tool for wage increases; 4) avoiding pet projects.

This last step is the hardest and will involve some missteps. The city did not do a good job (and I include myself in this criticism) of identifying the true cost of the Community Center project before we asked voters to approve it at referendum. More recently, the council agreed to reduce the rent for the Dunn Bros. franchisee at the Smith Douglas More house by 80 percent because the business is struggling – that rent reduction should have been rejected and we should be looking for another retail tenant.

But, there’s good news, too, and there is no doubt in my mind that the budget ultimately approved by the City Council for 2008 will be much better because of the current council leadership and the improvement to our budget process. These improvements are a direct result of decisions made by voters in the ballot booth. The result is that the city is well positioned to continue providing excellent service while avoiding excessive property tax increases.

 Phil Young is the mayor of Eden Prairie.