A welcome change
The contrast between an explosive pink-postcard meeting in 2024 and last week’s city budget hearing could not be more extreme.
Two years ago, city leaders had no answers for a proposed 38 percent budget increase, prompted in large part by an ambulance service that was draining both cash reserves and confidence in City Hall. Last week, after hours of open discussion, elected officials listened, calmly considered various options and unanimously approved a trimmed-down budget reflecting a dramatic shift in city leadership. The difference is worth noting.
The final budget calls for the city to collect essentially the same $2.195 million in property taxes it collected last year, plus taxes generated by actual growth in the community. In other words, the city is choosing not to tax existing property owners for the inflationary increase in their property values.
That may sound like a relatively simple budget decision, but it represents a different philosophy about how the city approaches the people who pay its bills. Rather than starting with the question of how much additional revenue the city could collect, the council started with a different premise offered up by Council member Esther Bergen: How much money should we take, and then how do we live within those parameters?
That approach was not universally embraced around the council table. There were legitimate concerns about rebuilding reserves and what could happen if the city faces an unexpected expense. Council members heard suggestions about cutting services and even reducing police staffing. Those ideas weren’t implemented, but they were discussed openly and respectfully, reflecting another significant change.
Thinking back to that uncomfortable pink-postcard hearing almost exactly two years ago, tensions ran high that night and there was little room for an open exchange of ideas and perspectives. It felt like a low point at City Hall, at least during my 26 years in Aurora.
The tone is different now. There are still significant financial challenges ahead, and rebuilding the city’s financial cushion will take time. But the budget process demonstrated something taxpayers have every right to expect from their local government: transparency, honest discussion and a willingness to consider difficult choices before asking taxpayers for more money.
There may be years ahead when a larger tax increase is necessary. There may be years when reserves need to be rebuilt more aggressively. But last week demonstrated that those decisions can be made in the open, with questions asked, options considered and taxpayers’ interests at the table.
After the difficult budget discussions of the past two years, that kind of transparency is not a small thing. It’s a sign that City Hall is moving in a different direction.
It’s a most welcome change.
-- Kurt Johnson