Tough times on horizon at the Municipal Building

The budget briefing Danville’s city managers usually hold every April have started this month, and for good reason. Although the national economy is slowing improving, it may take another three years for city property values to show that recovery.

Since Danville’s government depends heavily on property taxes, the city faces at least three more years of tight budgets.

For a community that values its public schools, police department and the River District revitalization projects — that’s what people are telling Danville City Manager Joe King — that means making tough choices about the size and scope of municipal government services.

"It looks like we’re facing a significant deficit," King said of this year’s budget.

Work on the budget actually began late last year, when the city decided to give a one-time bonus to city employees — a group of folks who hadn’t seen a raise since the summer of 2008. That set the tone for the development of the next budget because it signals that Danville City Council believes that it must take care of its workers, even if there are going to be fewer of them in the future.

Budget cuts are one way to balance the books, and another is tax increases. The city could also do both cuts and increases.

None of those choices are especially popular, but people who attend the city’s "Community Conversations" are being told that Danville is a small city with big-city problems: Declining population, rising poverty, older houses and high unemployment.

Those aren’t new problems, of course, but over the next few years, tight budgets are going to restrict what the city government can do about them.

The problem facing King and Danville City Council this year is the lack of civic engagement. Last year, City Council heard a lot of noise from the public about ending backyard trash pickup and a proposed cigarette tax. But those were just two issues of many that will shape the next city budget.

"We’re not a community that has a history of engagement," King said.

That means that unless the city staff or City Council hits some hot button — like a tax increase or cutting a sacred cow — most of the work on next year’s budget will go unnoticed by most Danvillians.

That’s not the best way to shape public policy, of course. The city-sponsored Community Conversations are being offered to highlight the problems facing the city’s government, explain possible solutions and listen to what Danvillians want from their government over the next few years.

Just 200 people out of 44,000 city residents have attended one of the Community Conversation meetings this year. That may not be enough people to give the city’s leaders clear direction, but it won’t prevent the development of a new, tighter budget.