Councilmen Flinn and Edmund Ford Jr.

 

Memphis City Council Budget Chairman Shea Flinn nailed it.

And every Memphis taxpayer should remember it. “You can’t be against a tax increase and reductions in services,” he said.

To his point, if you’re against a tax increase, you are de facto for reductions in services, or if you are for maintaining or increasing services, you are for a tax increase.

Budget hearings in City Hall are never easy, but faced with the need to find the tens of millions of dollars owed to Memphis City Schools (after the Council’s courageous attempt to end the double taxation of Memphians for public education was rebuffed by the courts), calling this year’s budget hearings difficult is a gross understatement.

Painfree Government

The problem for city officials is that the public doesn’t want a tax increase but it doesn’t want to feel any pain from the decisions that result from cutting budgets.  The public wants government to be lean and efficient, but no one wants to go without their favorite service – just ask participants in the city parks’ athletic teams.

So there’s never been a better time for the city to consider how citizens can become partners with it, using communications, technology, and new approaches to continue services that would otherwise be eliminated, starting with the athletic leagues.  Although the choices for the Council budget committee are to raise taxes or cut costs, maybe, just maybe, with a philosophy of collaboration, there are options for keeping some services intact but it’s up to us to recommend how.

There’s a lot of rhetoric about city government cutting costs and its wasteful operations.

Just the Facts

Here are the facts:

* The City of Memphis tax rate is the same as 1993 although Memphis is about 120 square miles larger and density is 1,000 people less per square mile.

* The City of Memphis per capita cost of services is less than either Shelby County, Germantown, Collierville, or Bartlett governments.

* The City of Memphis has fewer employees making more than $100,000 than Shelby County Government.

* All Memphis property tax revenues don’t even cover the costs of Memphis Police Department and Memphis Fire Department – it’s still about $80 million short.

Play Ball

That brings us back to Councilman Flinn’s comment.  He proposed an increase in the city tax increase to pay off the schools debt, but one of the political Ten Commandments is “never raise taxes in an election year,” so there’s little chance that his idea will get traction.  As a result, city government has begun to pare back services, notably the elimination of the Division of Park’s athletic programs.

Here’s the thing:  city government should invite our ideas to keep the programs running.  After all, the Division of Parks Services budget for athletic programs is only $281,042.  That’s the balance after deducting $103,300 in fees that it collects.  Most of the cost is for the salaries of four employees.  The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the parks division budget is essentially what it was 15 years ago, so when its budget is cut, it hits the bone because there is no fat.

Yes, the cost of the athletic programs is only about one-quarter of one cent of property taxes, but you don’t close the $60 million budget deficit without dozens and dozens of small cuts.

There is of course the option of increasing the fees threefold – if athletic program participants propose it – to fund the total cost of athletic programs.  But there may be other options that employ technology so the public can self-organize and manage the programs with volunteers.  As Gary Hamel once wrote in Finding the Revolution, “the goal is not to speculate on what might happen, but to imagine what you can make happen.”

A Sporting Chance

Maybe there are things we can make happen.  It requires us to think innovatively and differently, and instead of waiting on city government to organize things to think of ways we can do it ourselves.  For example, can we set up a volunteer nonprofit organization that can manage the program itself?  After all, Patrick Halloran organized a city kickball league that would have had 52 teams this year, so there is no lack of organizational skills.

All told, about 5,000 people of all ages participate in 500 athletic teams.  Local government always seems to be several generations behind in technology for its employees and the application of technology to improve operations and inspire new ways of maintaining public services like the athletic programs.

We’re sure we’re simplifying it but if the parks division’s athletic staff was booking fields, setting schedules, and handling other logistical issues, there should be a technological answer to do it just as well by volunteers.

As we have often written, everyone wants government to be more businesslike until it affects them.  That’s why this is a moment when we, as citizens, should adopt a different attitude.  We should quit acting as consumers of government services, and instead, act as co-creators in collaborating to design new ways to deliver them.

Technology Solutions

Maybe, the Division of Park Services can contribute one fulltime employee to help volunteers run the athletic program if City Hall was more inventive in engaging citizens to help.  For example, we should set up a website like ParkScan in San Francisco so that we can notify parks workers of problems in parks to reduce the amount of time that is spent visiting parks to see if there are problems.

In the words of ParkScan: “San Francisco’s more than 200 neighborhood parks provide a wide range of recreational opportunities to residents and visitors alike. These resources need thoughtful care and upkeep. Unfortunately, budget constraints make it impossible for City staff to be in every park every day. ParkScan allows City residents to report and monitor conditions they feel are important to their park’s upkeep. This information is vital to the parks department’s timely response to maintenance issues.

“Reports provide invaluable data for park advocates and the Recreation and Parks Department because they substantiate the need for resources during the budget process. ParkScan’s annual reports provide important trend information about park maintenance across the city so data can be compared year to year. Annual reports are provided to all elected officials, including the Mayor.”

Then again, City of Memphis should emulate SeeClickFix so that all of us can act as “eyes on the street” reporting blight, graffiti, or problems.  The point is that local government here does a dismal job of using technology to transform citizens into active advocates and adjunct staff, and with more difficult budget choices ahead, there’s never been a better time for us to be asked to exercise our full citizenship.

No Sacred Cows

Cities across the country are taking some unprecedented actions to cut budgets, including laying off hundreds of teachers, cutting funds for education (an option which is apparently denied to Memphis by the courts), reducing the number of police officers on the street, and more.

As City Council budget hearings continue, we are assuming that there will be no sacred cows.  Every service – and yes, this includes fire and police – needs to be examined for cost savings.  In particular, it’s a good time to consider how to right size public facilities and to relocate them for where Memphians live today.   With 30% fewer people living inside the 1970 city limits of Memphis and with densities halved (and more), city facilities are largely located for a city that no longer exists.

It may not be possible to conduct the kind of in-depth analysis that’s needed in time for this year’s budget hearings, but hopefully, it will be begin so that it can be taken into account next year.  It’s time for that kind of clear-eyed analysis and it’s time for all of us to get into the process to find better ways to deliver city services.