A Good Move on Stabilization

The City Council did the right thing last night and approved a $600,000 transfer to the stabilization fund from free cash. Here's why:

First, it sends the message that the city is no longer interested in spending every single penny it gets its hands on. You want fiscal responsibility and conservatism, you're getting it (at least in a small, starter step). This $1.3 million in free cash set off something of a small feeding frenzy as a number of entities started drooling over it, but it's a good message to send that the priority is still shoring up the city's financial position and not spending.

Second, I'm pretty confident in guessing that if a few bucks are needed to settle union contracts, the council will provide the eight votes necessary to move the money. If there was a hold up on this, it was that a transfer out of stabilization needs two-thirds, while a simple transfer needs a simple majority. But considering the council's clearly expressed desire to take care of the contracts, it seems very likely that they'd maintain that priority and take it out. The one problem for the unions, however, is that who knows what might happen in the meantime, suck out some of that money, and make it unavailable. But the final piece I'd consider is the political factor. If Wong presents a police contract, for example, three years late and asks the council to pay it, who's really going to vote against it. So I'm not overly concerned.

All in all so far, the mayor and the council are doing the right thing with the free cash. There's still that question of what's going to happen with the rest of it, and it might be a messy battle of priorities, wish lists, and other territorial factors. But the first steps have been positive.