Aligning the Budget with Iowa City Values

On January 7, 2023, the city council spent most of the day hearing from City of Iowa City’s department heads and city management on the proposed Fiscal Year 2024 budget. I believe the spending authorized in this budget must align with the values identified in our recently adopted Strategic Plan: social justice and racial equity, climate action, and partnership and engagement.

I am advocating for increasing our commitments to community safety in ways that align with these values: investing more in neighborhood outreach and supports to empower and create leaders throughout our community; better communication about the great work of our many partners who provide an array of services to support people in times of need; and prioritizing updates to our land use policy and guiding documents to enable more inclusionary zoning.

In a very tight budget year, we can find the funds to support these community-building actions by limiting some other spending within the budget. I proposed keeping our police department’s patrol at its currently hired level of 78 sworn officers, and shifting funds into the above-noted areas that will help prevent calls to the police in the first place.

A budget is a moral document. Let’s make sure Iowa City’s FY24 budget reflects our community’s morals.