Comments on: Biel calls for Fact-Based Budgeting

By: greenrax

greenrax — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:17:29 +0000

Of course, Toledo could discontinue this service as part of its package of services. It could contract out this service to one or more companies.

By: greenrax

greenrax — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:15:07 +0000

I have a problem with choosing cities that do not have snow removal as part of their services. If we could find 10 cities that had fleets similar in size to ours then I could see making a comparison. Otherwise, I cannot.

By: Photodan

Photodan — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:29:57 +0000

Tax Time wrote:

If we are looking at other cities as models, population is only one of a variety of factors. You as need to look at tax structure, as well as the state tax structure which the city resides. This includes income and property tax allocation.
Nashville, albeit a larger city with a different employment base has done a nice job in managing their finances. We don’t have to stick to rust belt areas.

Good point. I just thought it would be useful to look to the rest of the rust belt because we all face similar challenges with respect to the collapse of heavy industry and the auto companies.

By: Tax Time

Tax Time — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:18:20 +0000

If we are looking at other cities as models, population is only one of a variety of factors. You as need to look at tax structure, as well as the state tax structure which the city resides. This includes income and property tax allocation.

Nashville, albeit a larger city with a different employment base has done a nice job in managing their finances. We don’t have to stick to rust belt areas.

By: Craig - The Unoriginal

Craig - The Unoriginal — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:41:40 +0000

Mr. Biel has a rather grandiose idea of what a part-time city councilman can accomplish.
That’s the only fact I can discern from his fact-based budget proposal.

By: Aunt jemima

Aunt jemima — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:56:42 +0000

daveschulz wrote:

Try pittsburgh, cincy….

Pittsburgh would be a good one. That way the Blocks would be able to optimize their involvement.

By: daveschulz

daveschulz — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:43:14 +0000

Try pittsburgh, cincy….

By: Photodan

Photodan — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:30:33 +0000

I see no need for snide remarks.

You’d have more of a point if there were walls around each city. The police and emergency responders take care of everyone who happens to be in the city limits, even if they aren’t residents. I believe that during the work day and on the weekends, there are more than 478,000 in the Cleveland city limits. If you want a more representative comparison, you have to take the metro area into account.

Yes, Cleveland proper may only have 478k but the Cleveland metro area has 2 million residents. (compared to Toledo’s 651k) Do you really think Toledo and Cleveland even remotely compare?

By: LisaRenee

LisaRenee — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:19:00 +0000

It’d be interesting if we would actually focus on the post, Akron would be closer than Cleveland, Detroit or Columbus, so one out of three is better than zero out of three.

There are cities out there that would be better as far as benchmarks in and out of Ohio, that is just one small part of this type of a budget system. As stated internal and external benchmarks are a standard.

By: Ryan J. Austin

Ryan J. Austin — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:09:39 +0000

To photodan the population expert:

The population of Cleveland is 478,000 compared to 317,000 for Toledo (approximate.) A difference of 161,000. Syracuse – 140,000, Grand Rapids 198,000, Akron 217,000. The average difference between the three and Toledo is 135,000. If Toledo is not “remotely” close in population to Cleveland, than neither is any of your three lacking comparisons.