By: Ken Oplinger

More and more, I hear people complaining about government.  It does too much.  It does too little.  Taxes are too high.  Taxes aren’t high enough.

Lately, I need look no further than the Administration at the City of Bellingham to find a government entity that I can use in response as a great example of how government is supposed to work.

The City began 2009 working under an approved budget of some $216 million.  Almost immediately, it became clear that the City would not have the resources to fund that budget, and Mayor Pike began to make cuts.  All told, the Mayor was forced to cut over $28 million, or 13% of the original budget.

And for 2010, the Mayor is proposing a budget of $187.8 million, over $4 million less than the budget the City worked under in 2006.  This budget includes taking the 1% property tax increase allowed by law (which he decided not to take last year), adding a City staff person who will be responsible for Economic Development, and using some of the reserves the City had built up in better times.

So, the next time you hear someone complaining that all government is bad and spends outside their means, be sure to mention the efforts of Mayor Pike, City Finance Director John Carter, CAO David Webster, and all of the staff at the City, who are doing a great job of trying to provide services to this community under some difficult economic realities.  Rather than hide their head in the sand, they are aggresively responding to this economic downturn, and we should all offer our support.