As the state and national economies continue to contract from their glory days, when Detroit was still the world auto capital and thousands of spin-off businesses provided world-class wages and benefits, there are new standards of accountability and thrift.
Today, every dollar is scrutinized, every perk put under the microscope. America is learning to tighten its belt.
Now, that kind of accountability -- and pain for employees -- appears to be coming to local government. It may be difficult. It may feel unfair. But it's a new reality that cannot be ignored.
The Traverse City commission has given city employees a mandate to make cuts to help the city save nearly $600,000 (about 3.75 percent of the current-year budget) in order to help create a fund to do critical street, sidewalk and stormwater work.
Commissioners have also made it clear this is not a one-time directive. They have indicated they will continue to look at wages, benefits and perks, reflective of a basic premise that city government is a business created to serve a long list of shareholder needs within a set budget.
Being a shareholder in Traverse City doesn't come cheap. The city itself levies a very steep 13.17 mills a year, or $1,317 on a house with a taxable value of $100,000. Add school, county, community college, community college debt and commission on aging taxes, and the tax bill soars.
Mandating efficiencies at any time simply makes sense. Mandating efficiencies and cuts when the city has unmet needs, rising costs and declining revenue is survival. The commission already cut a 1 percent administrative fee.
Michael Estes, who was elected mayor last fall in part on a promise to cut the cost of local government, said he wants to focus on employee benefits, which he contends are "better than any other employer in town."
Estes also said he won't accept savings based on paring the product.
"(T)he normal process (is) ... if you cut a dollar out of the budget, you reduce a dollar of work you do for the residents," he said. "I don't believe in that."
The city has 174 full-time employees; more than 100 at the governmental center or the police and fire departments. Pension costs currently make up 11 percent of the general fund.
Commissioner Deni Scrudato criticized "perks," such as department head car allowances, and weak accountability.
"There are no job performance reviews, no goals or objectives ... nothing goes into their personnel file," she said.
Top city officials earn from $61,000 to $107,000 a year.
Department head reactions have, understandably, varied. Planner Russ Soyring said he's looking to cut $5,000 to $6,000 from travel and education budgets. City engineer Tim Lodge may need a refresher on the mandate; he said his budget "may include increases ..." if he thinks them necessary.
City taxpayers deserve an efficient government and have the right to demand, through their elected officials, greater accountability. In the outside world, that's a reality and one that must take hold here as well. Other governments in the region must sit up and take notice.
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