When Mayor Joe Sinnott released the 2008 Erie City budget proclaiming no tax or fee increase, my initial reaction was that I was pleased. Perhaps the Mayor has gotten the city back on the road to financial stability and recovery. Being a less government fiscal conservative, my second thought was: I wonder what’s in there that could be cut.

Since that budget release we have heard the Mayoral Advisory Group weigh in with their frustration at the speed of change indicated by the Early Intervention Program. Today, thanks to Dennis Weed of ErieBlogs.com, I got a look at the actual budget. My conclusion: it’s time for a tax cut.

Remember, in order to balance the 2007 budget, City Council raised taxes 12% and let go multiple public safety employees. That tax increase was forecasted to bring in an additional $3 million in real estate taxes. Upon examination of the current year budget and the YTD expenditures it’s apparent that last year’s tax increase was way too large. The positive of having what looks like will be a significant surplus is that there is evidence of movement on the part of city departments to decrease expenses. Elimination of a quarter of your work force will do that. The biggest negative of a government surplus is that politicians will always find a way to spend that extra money.

That’s why I beseech City Council to continue to strive to cut the city budget and pass a tax decrease. By my estimation, Council could give back upwards of $500,000 back to the taxpayers. That’s actually less than 1% of the entire $57,129,263 budget. But it turns the volume up to “11” in the way of perceptions that the city might be finally getting its act together.

You see, it’s not enough just to balance the budget, but the overall future of community highly depends on the competitiveness of the city’s tax structure. A tax reduction, even just a few dollars per taxpayer would signify that our brighter future will start now.