It's budget time again in Niagara Falls, and it isn't going to be pretty.
At least it shouldn't be.
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Mayor Vincenzo V. Anello is required to submit a spending plan for 2005 by Oct. 1 -- his first since taking over the big office at City Hall. His administration spent the last few months sending some very conflicting signals about what the annual process will bear.
On one hand, there's the neat-looking master plan unveiled -- or dusted off -- by the administration a couple weeks back. It offers a vision of Niagara Falls as a lush magnet for ecotourists and growing entrepreneurs alike.
On the other, the administration bemoans the city's dire financial situation, gravely intimating that dark, dark days are ahead for the taxpayers of Niagara Falls, as well as its employees. Well, which is it?
City officials say they aren't sure they'll be able to pay their most basic bills for the next 12 months. At the same time, they herald a plan to morph portions of the city that closely resemble downtown Kabul into a green Utopia rife with sprawling parks, heritage districts and champagne fountains.
Problem is, it takes money to make all of that idealistic wishing a reality. A lot of money. Which, as Anello and Company remind us incessantly, we ain't got.
A year ago, then-Mayor Irene Elia introduced a budget that included no tax increases. That balancing act didn't help her come Election Day. Anello has spent much of his first year in office blaming Elia's miscalculations when it comes to revenue and expenses for the city's current deficit.
But the statute of limitations on Anello's universal explanation -- "It's Irene's fault" -- expires when he submits his budget proposal. There are no parking meters to mistakenly count on, no excuses for overestimating revenue from either parking tickets or the city's crumbling parking ramps.
Nor does the mayor have many potential scapegoats left. His masterful strategy for smoothing the budget process -- getting rid of the position of budget director -- leaves the responsibility entirely on him and his advisers.
If he's serious about righting the fiscal course of Niagara Falls, he'll slash into the patronage heap he's been building since moments after taking the oath of office, eliminating or consolidating the myriad positions he's created and filled for the sole purpose of political or personal payback.
If he's serious, he'll sit down with leaders of the city's unions and have honest, meaningful discussions about what the city can afford and what the future holds, instead of threatening his way into a war that he can't win.
And if he's serious, he'll open meaningful talks with the local Albany contingent about getting more of the money flowing from the Seneca Niagara Casino into state coffers sent back to Niagara Falls, instead of engaging in petty partisan bickering over who gets to control what.ΚΚ
Or he can keep running the city like a charity designed to benefit a privileged and connected few, rather than the many who voted for him.
This budget process, which starts with a special City Council meeting on Friday, offers an opportunity for Anello to make good on his campaign vow to change the way the city does its business. He can either seize it and make some tough choices, or just keep making the easy excuses. ₯₯₯
Speaking of the city's unions, the $1.4 million lawsuit filed by employees of the city's water and waste water treatment plants entered this fall's City Council race, courtesy of Republican candidate George Lodick.
Lodick held a press conference Friday pointing out that his Democratic opponent, Glenn Choolokian, is one of the plaintiffs in the suit, which alleges that a 1999 deal improperly terminated the workers from their jobs with the city (though their positions were taken over by a separate water and sewer authority).
"How can anyone sue the taxpayers of this city for $1.4 million, and say that he wants to represent them at the same time?" Lodick asked.
Choolokian, who topped incumbent Councilman Jimmy Stewart in the party's Sept. 14 primary, has maintained that the lawsuit is aimed at correcting the improper transfer of jobs by the city and is consistent with his campaign to change the way City Hall does business.
Of course, Choolokian would be ineligible to run for city office if his job hadn't been transferred to the separate authority.
Both candidates have been critical of Anello and his administration, as well as questionable deals like the Great Hyde Park Golf Course Giveaway. Even with that common ground, though, Lodick's press conference was the first salvo in what's shaping up as a hotly contested race.
Speaking of the master plan, which City Hall clearly intends to use as justification for every questionable deal or mystifying maneuver, City Administrator Dan Bristol told The Other Paper it found a rather surprising flaw in Niagara Falls.
An overabundance of playgrounds.
Now, you'd think playgrounds would be one of those "quality of life" factors that Anello regularly refers to, an attraction for young families deciding whether to move to the city or stay here.
Apparently, there are just too many of the darned things around here, so we'd better get rid of them, selling them well below market value if necessary, before they drag us down any farther.
Praise the Lord for the great minds who spotted this looming danger and are doing something about it.
Speaking of The Other Paper, it ran a photograph ostensibly portraying the intersection of Third Street and Pine Avenue in last Thursday's edition, picturing a bustling area filled with stately buildings.
The photo accompanied a story about a planned heritage district in that area. Looks pretty good, we thought.
Except that it didn't look anything like the intersection of Third and Pine. Closer observation revealed street signs for Route 44 and Interstate 95, neither of which come anywhere near Niagara Falls.
TOP dutifully ran a red-faced clarification the next day, though leaving unexplained how or why a picture of Smith Street in Providence, R.I., wound up in a story about downtown Niagara Falls.
Maybe it was wishful thinking. After all, Providence is a city that's growing while making a conscious effort to maintain its history and character. In fact, we strongly encourage TOP to present pictures of other cities as if they were Niagara Falls more often. At least they'd be less depressing than yet another shot of present-day Main Street.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Sept. 28 2004 |