Today, Mayor John Hickenlooper drops his proposed budget. And when I say his budget, I mean it.
After all, why does one of the most vital functions of government – one that sets our priorities and disburses our tax dollars – take place almost entirely in secret?
Denver employs a strong-mayor system. In this case, a really strong mayor system since, as everyone surely is aware, Hickenlooper’s stratospheric approval rating hovers in the area of milkshakes, cherry blossoms and adopted abandoned kittens.
Our beloved leader rarely deals with a peep of noteworthy protest. And, for the most part, most of us can agree, the mayor has done an excellent job. Yet it doesn’t excuse a budget process that excludes the appropriate level of scrutiny.
For the past few weeks, for instance, Hickenlooper’s top staff have been meeting among themselves to decide how to parcel out your tax dollars – without input from your city representatives.
There will be dough for fire equipment and the homeless, and probably some new sprinkler systems and some raises for Cabinet-level officials – and those folks deserve every penny. The question is: Why weren’t we (and by we, I don’t mean we; I mean the representatives in City Council we elected to be bored for us) involved in setting budget priorities?
Here in Denver, typically, our City Council members play the role of bobblehead dolls, nodding in agreement as the powerful Oz dazzles them with fiscal wizardry. Elected officials have the good sense to understand that Hickenlooper has led Denver from the brink of deficit spending and that many voters want to have his children. They allow him wide latitude to set city priorities.
That’s not why we elect our council members. And perhaps this year, we’ll see some spine. Already, City Council President Michael Hancock has dissented and demanded that the city deal with libraries at the same time it goes to work on the all-important concert hall.
Council member Jeanne Faatz, typically the most fiscally conservative council member in Denver, has stepped out of Hickenlooper’s amen corner, as well, to question why the city’s police officers have been denied adequate breathing equipment in the event of a terrorist attack.
When I call Faatz, who is the chair of the finance committee, to find out what she knows about the budget, the first words out of her mouth are: “I don’t have much information.”
Geez, that doesn’t seem right. How is it that the chair of the finance committee is still trying to figure out the proposed budget?
“With a little patience,” she goes on, “I will be learning more. But what you are describing is the hallmark of a strong-mayor system. The actual development of the budget and priorities – and his priorities are first and foremost reflected in the budget.”
Budgets need to be challenged and parsed. Proposals are torn apart, debated, even trashed in favor of something new. This is how it’s done in Congress and Colorado state government.
At some point, there will be a chance to challenge the budget. By that time it’s too late for any meaningful changes. And even those who stand in front of the council are careful to be supportive of the budget, not offer the council constructive criticism, according to Faatz. Most department heads are named by the best-dressed mayor in America.
“Well,” Faatz says, “it’s not exactly healthy for job retention to question your boss.”
For instance, Faatz’s specific concerns revolve around police equipment. One way to resolve this, she contends, would be to allow departments to directly lobby council members the way they lobby the mayor before the budget is prioritized.
“I would welcome the police chief himself coming to me early on and saying: ‘Listen, we’ve put this in our budget. I want you to know that there are a couple of important things that you should keep an eye on,”‘ Faatz explains. “But that doesn’t happen.”
The process has nothing to do with Hickenlooper – he didn’t create it. Yet, however popular or competent our mayor is, his priorities will not always align with all neighborhood concerns.
Scrutiny should replace complacency and political expediency. And City Council members – not in a million years did I think I’d ever write this – deserve more of a voice.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 303-954-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
