What do grease traps and our city’s budget have in common?
Last night, my evening consisted of two activities:
1) Participating in a work session where City of Delta’s financial future was presented
2) Cleaning out our bar’s grease trap
Interestingly enough, there was a distinct parallel between the two activities.
For anybody who has ever cleaned a grease trap before, they would understand. The grease trap does exactly what its name advertises: it traps grease (along with fats and oils). Commercial kitchens produce a lot of grease that eventually ends up going down the water drain as everything is cleaned. The grease trap separates the majority of the grease, fats, and oils, so to minimize the chances of it clogging up outgoing waste water drains.
The grease trap needs routine cleaning. If not cleaned on a regular basis, the system can easily clog, creating putrid odors that will seep into your kitchen and eventually the front of the house. To clean the contraption, you have to literally scoop or vacuum out the gunk one gallon at a time.
It is easily one of the dirtiest jobs one can ever do. I have clothing that is specifically dedicated to cleaning the grease trap. When I get home, I have to strip down as soon as I get in the house in order to minimize the chances of this disgusting filth coming in contact with anything of value. Even when these clothes are cleaned with scolding water and bleach, they still have faint aroma.
Our City’s budget and financial projections are essentially the equivalent of a grease trap that has been ignored for too long.
All of our major enterprise/utility funds (ML&P, capital improvements, water, refuse, and sewer) are nose diving — mostly due to transfers to our municipal golf course and debt service to finance our disgustingly expensive truck bypass. Our debt exposure ($29 million) exceeds our revenue projections ($26 million), and it is only going to get worse in two years when our current adjustable loans are scheduled to balloon. The seal on top of this metaphorical grease trap is compromised and is currently hemorrhaging unto the floor.
The moral of the story is this: things are about to get a whole lot dirtier before they ever have a chance of getting clean. The process won’t be pretty. It will require rolled-up sleeves and work ethic. The whole endeavor stinks to high heaven, and — ultimately — nobody truly wants to do it.
But here I am — signing up to do the dirty work.
And here is what I am committed to doing:
· I am committed to not raising taxes. This, to me, is the absolute last resort.
· I am committed to continuing to trim the fat. We are lean, but I still think we can reduce spending.
· I am committed to making our community a more business-friendly place — one that encourages economic growth, not scares away businesses with excessive front-end expenses.
· I am committed to growing the tax base, not the tax burden — which means opening up Delta to markets that we have traditionally banned.
· I am committed to innovative ideas that monetize public services and reduce overhead.
But here’s the catch: I cannot do this alone. The City of Delta needs public input as to how to prioritize its spending. If you don’t pay close enough attention, the City might foolishly spend money on something that serves very little public good. (For example, a $2.2 million City Hall improvement project was floated during this particular meeting.)
Read the budget (click here). Get informed. Ask questions. Remind public servants what’s important.
Together, we can clean this mess up.
