Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 18, 1992 TAG: 9202180327
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WOULD-BE MAYORS: CUT THE FAT
If elected mayor, both Howard Musser and David Bowers say they would start trimming government spending by looking at top-level city management.
Howard Musser says City Hall should cope with the economic recession by following the example of a Japanese manufacturing company that fell upon hard times.
The company did not let a single production worker go, but trimmed expenses by laying off scores of middle and upper managers. In time, the company recovered and became profitable.
Musser, one of two Roanoke City Council members seeking the Democratic mayoral nomination, says taxpayers would be better served if the city government thinned its layers of high-paid managers.
David Bowers, who also is seeking the nomination, agrees that something must be done to hold down the costs on the "top level" of city administration.
Bowers - without naming names - said one top manager spent thousands of dollars to redecorate his office last year at the same time the administration could not find the money to implement all-day kindergarten at all city elementary schools.
While Bowers and Musser both contend that management is the most bloated part of city government, they arrive at their conclusions from different perspectives.
Musser, who is seeking support from business, believes that City Hall can be run more efficiently - like the Japanese company in his example.
Musser is comfortable with the city manager form of government in which staff has the authority to make the day-to-day decisions. He simply believes City Manager Bob Herbert should fine-tune the operation to eliminate unnecessary layers of management.
Bowers, who is taking a more populist tack, believes that voters want a strong leader who will "take back" City Hall from entrenched bureaucrats.
Bowers says that for too long, City Council has not been forceful in holding the staff accountable. "If that's the way you want your government, then continue to vote for people who are laid back and go along to get along," he said.
Musser identified one city program that he believed to be underfunded - the Police Department's community outreach effort - and said he would like to see money spent there.
"If it's working, we need more of it," he said. "If I had extra dollars to spend right now, that's where I would spend it before anywhere else."
In response to a city task force on race relations, the police department has established foot patrols through inner-city neighborhoods rife with drug-related violence.
Musser said it was important for officers to gain the trust and respect of residents who had become to see police as outsiders who rode in only when there was trouble.
Bowers said the city's promotion of tourism is the one area he believes is most underfunded.
"If there's any one area in which we have not done what we should, it's in attracting the world to our beautiful valley," he said.
Bowers said he would like to see the city increase its financial support of the Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Civic Center's convention sales staff, the Transportation Museum and Henry Street renovation.
He said one pool of revenue could be created by raising lodging and meals taxes, levies paid primarily by visitors, not city residents.
Keywords:
POLITICS