On-The-Table: Mesa We Have A Problem

...and it's not the only one. It has been under-the-radar for years, fogged-over by overlooked items in reams of budget documents, a glaring lack of oversight and interest by Mesa residents and taxpayers, and an entrenched 'business-as-usual' bureaucracy operated by elected and appointed officials in City Hall to serve and protect the public trust and interest.

On the surface it came into focus last year in the November General Election when - quite to the surprise of the entire Mesa City Council and other City Hall insiders - Mesa taxpayers rejected a bogus tax-hike proposal called Yes1Mesa by voting NO.
That proposition - a mixed-up mish-mash of three problems desperately seeking solutions in one fell swoop: Downtown Redevelopment, Education and Public Safety - crashed and blew-up big time even though it was pushed hard by a privately-financed $500,000-plus 'political action committee' or PAC  public-relations campaign that turned out to be a major screw-up colliding with the majority public interest.

The role of PACs in local politics, using not only contributions from individuals and special-interest groups, but money poured into politics by public service employee Police/Fire unions to control and influence election outcomes continues to play out in front of the Mesa City Council today for discussion of the city's budget. [see details in this post yesterday ]
After many posts last year on this blogsite and thanks to a recent investigative report ,  three of the contested campaigns for seats for district representatives on the Mesa City Council were up-for-grabs in D1, D2 and D3 where the names of people running for elected office who received Police/Fire PAC contributions were made public by reporters Jessica Boehm and Justin Gardner.
[Blogger's Note: Thanks to public disclosure laws candidates are required to file lists of election campaign contributors - these have been available for months on the Mesa City Clerk's webpage]

Defeated candidates Shelley Allen D2 and Jerry Lewis D3 and winning candidate Mark Freeman D1all received sizeable sums from public service employee PACs.
Elected Mesa Councilmember Mark Freeman, with 31 years employment in the Mesa Fire Department, enjoys a generous city retirement pension/benefits package, also benefiting from an endorsement by Russell Pearce, notorious anti-immigrant AZ State legislator for SB1070 who got shamed out-of-office.

WHAT IS ON THE AGENDA FOR TODAY'S STUDY SESSION
Item 2a has three different parts
1. Proposed Budget Overview for Fiscal Year 2017/18
Presented by the Office of Management and Budget April 3, 2017 24 pages
Currently, a gap exists between the expected annual expenses and the forecasted available resources. Increased expenditure pressure from pension, healthcare, and the minimum wage increase has widened this gap
FY16/17 Updated Forecast shows Projected  - ( 2.8 million)
FY17/18 Updated Forecast shows Estimated - (17.8 million

2. Fiscal Year 2017/18 Summary of Proposed Budget 24 pages

3. FY17/18 Proposed Budget Forecast Summary

The City currently has a gap between the level of on-going revenues and the level of on-going expenses.  The result is reliance on reserve balances and savings experienced during the year.  In FY15/16 expenditure reductions were made to narrow the funding gap.  Recent changes in the City’s contribution to the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) have widened the funding gap.
About 73% of the General Governmental fund expenses are related to the cost of personnel who provide the services.  Public safety services are the largest component.  The proposed budget uses four methods of cost containment/reduction related to personnel. 
• Cost containment/limiting step pay expenses
• Cost minimization through civilianization of positions
• Protection of core services through repurposing of positions
• Elimination of positions