June 23rd Council Meeting

So we almost had a special meeting regarding the budget because they couldn't agree on it and they kept arguing pointlessly. The time wasted during that meeting was Raver talking about the last council majority and how they didn't do anything.  News flash: neither have you  since December until the recently formed ad-hoc, which I have said my peace about and is now funded. Not a single person on that council can point a finger at another at this point.
The budget passed the second time around by trimming off $100,000.   Our projected reserve as of 6/30/2016 is $9,167,266 (22.33%).  Our revenue is $35,814,300 (was $35,914,300) and our expenses are $41,058,937.  We have to go into our reserve $5,244,637 (which gives us the $9,167,266).  Here is how the budget breaks down: 12% development; 6% recreation; 8% city administration and 74% public safety.  The first vote had 2 for (Krupa and Wright), 2 against (Youssef and Milne) and 1 abstention (Raver).  They had to trim $100,000 off of the money we are putting aside for the software update needed in a few years to get the budget passed.  It did pass 4-1 with Milne voting against it.  I know she wanted at least the assistant city manager position eliminated.  They kept arguing about the budget and how hard decisions are  not made and getting off topic when the reality is: they should have started looking at this and options in December; actually July 2014!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Honestly, and I said this a few months back, it should have started with a vision and plan 20 years ago. 
You cannot have a shifting dynamic, here I mean from retirement community to family community, and expect to stay status-quo.  This is a problem that needs more that one resolution.  We have to be smarter about how we go about things.  We finally, due to the state, are moving in the direction of being responsible about our landscaping and water use.  You know how much money we would have been saving if we had native desert plants all along? Not to mention being responsible to our natural resources.
You cannot run a city/government like a business.  It is well-known that government is to provide services; business is to provide profit.  Now, if you are smart; you can get the business side established and built to the point of being able to fund your government.  However, that takes being able to look down the road some years and see a bigger picture.  Your city councils have failed you on this and are currently failing you! Someone do something smart!  I don't just mean a tax (even though we need it to keep things afloat for the time being) because that keeps everything the way it is.  It just provides money to keep things funded at their current point. This is assuming we do not dip into another recession.  We need to move this city forward with a vision.  If we cannot get it together, then we will be filing for bankruptcy very shortly! We cannot take another $5,000,000 hit to our reserve.  That is the reality, so you need to start paying attention.