Spending, pension costs and bloated government spell budget trouble.
Kimberly Bizor Tolbert reacts to the supportive 12-2 roll call vote by Dallas City Council that named her interim city manager earlier this year.Painful fiscal reckonings like the one Dallas is undergoing happen when budget makers fail to exercise rigorous fiscal discipline. Not all spending is necessary, or even effective. Council members and interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert must now pare programs and services that city leadership expanded in headier times.
Dallas becomes its own worst enemy when its leadership sidesteps difficult fiscal decisions. It is too common for council members and city management to avoid rigorous budget scrubbing that would require slicing popular programs. Too often, they opt instead to add dollars to whatever was budgeted the previous year even as they fund new programs and services.
All city department heads have been ordered to present plans for a 6% trim from their budgets. At best, that’s a starting point for a trek toward greater fiscal accountability and transparency. Ultimately, the city government must dial down the total cost while increasing the efficiency of core services.
Change doesn’t come easily, especially during a potentially contentious budget trimming. Dallas residents deserve their money’s worth for their tax dollars. They want safe, livable neighborhoods, better streets and sidewalks, and a city government that can provide basic vital city services like construction permitting without delay and drama.. Dallas Morning News editorials are written by the paper's Editorial Board and serve as the voice and view of the paper.
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