Politicians Who Get It Right

It is not often that the words, "politicians who get it right," are ever uttered by myself but I do not want to miss an opportunity to recognize politicians who surprise me with their competence. This post is based on a story in the September 27, 2009 issue of the St. Petersburg Times that was written by Janet Zink. It focused on the people running the city government of Miami Gardens which was created six years ago. The mayor is Shirley Gibson and the city manager is Danny Crew, both of whom should be given a medal for what they have done. Despite the deep recession, Ms. Zink reported that:

• The city payroll will grow by 17 positions this year.
• Staff members will get cost-of-living and merit pay raises.
• Staff members will get matching contributions to their retirement plans.
• Rather than reaching into financial reserves to pay operating costs, the city government expects to increase the reserves by $300,000.
• Several years ago the city established their own police force with a lucrative recruiting package that quickly reduced violent crime by 19%.
• The city upgraded four public pools and 17 parks.

How could they possibly do all of this in these dire economic times? If you have read previous posts to this blog, you know that I tend to be pessimistic about any member of the political class achieving results like this. However, it is obvious from the quotes and actions from the leaders that they understand that no person and no government can live beyond its means:

• The mayor and the six council members SHARE three legislative aides.
• City Manager Crew shares an administrative system with two others and does his own typing.
• All city employees are used to help others, with Manager Crew indicating in the article that he has substituted as a crossing guard.
• When the city was formed, the leaders decided to spend money only on vital government functions and as a result, they do not have a lot of luxuries, mentioning that they do not have such luxuries as a poet laureate, graphic designers and a city television station.
• "We were not going to be a bloated government. We pride ourselves on the fact that we have necessary staff to get the job done," said Mayor Gibson.
• "We were very cautious about how we built the city. You tend to only hire those people you actually need,", said Manager Crew.
• "There are things you really don't need. We run a tight ship," said Manager Crew.
• And my favorite quote in the entire article, also from Manager Crew: "A city can't be everything to everybody. You have to have a council that knows how to say no to their constituents sometimes."

Can you imagine how more efficient the Federal government would be, how much smaller the budget deficit would be, and how much lower our tax burden would be if these two people and their associates in the Miami Gardens government ran the country? Politicians who shared resources, politicians who budgeted only for vital services, politicians who focused on critical needs (police and parks), politicians who actually said no to stupid or frivolous programs? It appears it can be done if only the politicians involved are respectful of the tax burden its citizens are under. Kudos to all in Miami Gardens who are not only surviving the rough economic times but who are thriving and delivering value to their citizens.