It has become very apparent to many of us in Tallahassee that no meaningful thought and effort has gone into a comprehensive review of essential spending priorities. The budget was developed from the prior year’s baseline spending. It was identified by the City as a “Public Safety Budget” which it most certainly was not. The result has revealed profligate spending proposals without recognition of the City’s
primary fiduciary obligations to protect the health, safety and well-being of its citizens.
The facts portray a process that was never intended to identify and excise low priority spending but instead to fully fund every project and program that management had on its wish list with no attempt to keep spending within reasonable constraints. This process was and is deeply flawed and most certainly not in the best interests of the citizens and taxpayers of Tallahassee. We, the undersigned demand, that you find savings to balance the budget without resort to any ad valorem tax increase and also unnecessary fee increases.
