Is that due to compounding costs of raises, retirement contributions, and insurance premiums for existing staff, OR is it for hiring more staff to keep up with massive growth, OR a combination of both? The budget does not break it down to show this detail. I have been told that the City use to publish the much longer, detailed budget on the website, but no longer does so.

I’m guessing that most other types of business do not expect to increase this line item by that much, in that amount of time?

oh boy.
I struggle to get through the whole report.

Is IFF correct?
from the report: “This department receives one cent from every tax dollar the city collects”

From the city (link provided by the report):
“1 cent of every City of Boise general fund tax dollar is dedicated to Department of Arts & History budget”

Hello IFF!
There is a difference between ‘every dollar collected’ and ‘every dollar in the general fund’.

When THAT is the lead issue for critique, and it is skewed, I find it tough to read the rest.

Several of the mentioned art projects funded by the city are in the VISTA neighborhood. Art on the bus stops. Trees donated to Vista homeowners…. Perhaps the VNA people here could comment on those projects, since they are frequent readers here.
As in, WHO applied for all those (frivolous) grants?http://vnaboise.org/projects/grant-application/
NO ART FOR VISTA! – so says IFF.

Or, $4/person per year for city art? Okay. I’d pay that to go to an art museum. So, now, I don’t have to go to a museum to see the pretty things in town. That is a ‘collective’ admission charge to see art instead of a sterile city.
Same for the parks, etc listed.

The report even wants to diminish the new Bandshell efforts in Julia Davis park.
Wow! Bashing on the Bandshell.

Bottom line, IFF is in favor of the least possible government– an extreme political opinion. Extreme and unrealistic.
Yet, apparently the Boise police force is doing perfectly fine. I wouldn’t want to live in “Wayne’s City”.

Running a decent city is a tough job. Granted, the City does waste a lot of tax dollars.
WE give, they will spend it!!!!
But there is a term of “material and important”. Let’s focus on the big picture, or in this case at least focus on the process and benefits of the many expenses. To just say, $5,000 to XYZ doesn’t help anyone.

Maybe Wayne Hoffman could do a better job than the Mayor. Considering their salaries are about the same, their current output should be comparable, right? “Mayor of a major city” and then “Wayne’s job”; getting money from Tea Party fans. Wayne gets about $120,000 a year + pension. THAT Is money that reduces our state tax coffers. And I would argue IFF is wasting a lot of money on Wayne Hoffman’s salary- at taxpayer’s expense.

Other than the fire bond, and money for police cars nothing is mentioned about Boise Fire or Boise Police in a 150+ pages.
The two biggest departments in the city get ‘a free pass’????????

But thanks for the list of expenses.
I can’t wait to see the SMART ACHD report. 🙂

It’s hilarious to see that IFF accepts bitcoin and cryptocurrency for donations; considering in 2008 and 2010 their supporters promoted resurrecting the Gold Standard as an Idaho Party Platform.
Credible?
Two Thumbs down.

All repeat poster: What you type could be edited down to a paragraph. Suggest you do so and then also limit yourself to only one post per article. Some of you are more or less creating a crazy guy manifesto and will find no friends even among those who agree with you. In short, make your point then STFU so other ideas can surface too. You might just learn something new, even from people you don’t like or don’t agree with.

Old duffers get a pass because of senility perhaps.

Good God Easterner, you sound like a distressed poodle.

I am not trying to be mean, but seriously…You bring up ideas such as racist or biased and…as far as I can tell you are all of those things but you can’t see it due to your distressed barking. I really think you need to calm down and understand what you’re saying here.

What I got from your comment is you want us to give Berch leeway (as a public official) for not reading a document prior to voting on it with his voice. Seriously? You also agree with the comment by Rod who so far has not qualified it. How could you agree with someone who hasn’t stated his reasons for saying it? Could it be because he might be as distressed as yourself?

Interesting that you brought up the confederate flag on this article. I get that you dont like the flag even though there is an entire other side to the story that you probably dont know about because your too busy barking at everyone. For example, not everyone views that war as good; tons and tons of people in the south would argue it was the federal government overreaching into states’ rights – which it was the same way as gay marriage mandated by the federal government was. They would argue that the way of slavery was nearly over anyway and they would have gotten rid of it themselves. Likewise gay marriage was on its way in anyway and the voters of our states would have voted it in. In both cases it can be viewed that the federal government overreached.

I employ Don’t Tread on Me flags, are you going to call me a racist trump supporter? Have you any idea that such a flag has multiple meanings, the least of which comes anywhere close to where I suspect you would go with it?

So you couldn’t give a rat about frivolous spending on public art, but you are sure that art benefits the entire community. Did you read how the round about art was placed and then removed for more costs? You don’t care about extra costs? How does that benefit the entire community? Further, if you don’t give a rat about that, why should anyone here care what you have to say about topics you claim to know everything about? And finally, if you are unwilling to admit that a budgetary crisis has many parts, frivolous spending on art included, then why should we view you as anything other than a distressed poodle?

I do agree with you regarding the zip code request; but it is what it is. If you were nicer, I would have offered the document to you anonymously so that you wouldn’t have to fork over that most sensitive of personal information..

You, dear Easterner, don’t need to be interrogated to know what political party you’re affiliated with; you wear it on your sleeve, and even more disturbing is that you shut down entire conversations on this comment section with your barking. You have the right to post; I won’t take that away, but I would caution you not to become too unhappy in your life by doing so. You seem like a very miserable sort of person to me.

So smart or IFF/Tea Party are not words you would string together in any report? Fortunately I tire of you after I see your name so I won’t need to worry about reading your reports.

In short, Easterner, I find your entire post (indeed most of your posts) to have all the elements of a troll. One bent on shutting down conversation with vapid and emotional responses designed to stalemate everything.

This will be the last time I comment on Easterner, for what this person desires most is attention and I will not give it.

EDITOR NOTE–We concede that Easterner enjoys trolling. I am nearing a shutdown of comments at this point, so warning to all–stay on topic and cut the personal attacks.

Ms Atkinson, your comment of Mr Berch using “incorrect numbers” is incorrect and too quick on your draw.
While I am not typing for him, but his numbers are simply ADDING UP what the Guardian has posted in the original article just exactly what Berch posted, $70,685 “cited in this article”. Pretty easy to read and see that solid explanation.

While the #’s may be accurate, context is needed and IFF’s bias agenda defies any serious consideration.

As mentioned above, the bulk of the city budget is for police and fire. Does IFF question why Chief Bones has to travel to Montana to attend an FBI Association bi-annual conference, for minimal actual hours in any kind of meaningful session? No.
Is the report full of all the other BPD and BFD frivolous spending? Is there a new BFD jet boat in the report? Is the city’s total cost of the Garth Brooks concert reported?
What’s the current cost of the BPD MRAP? Any thing about the excessive salaries/pensions/healthcare for fire employees hanging out at the station?

Small grants to various arts commission projects are important to some people- I couldn’t give a rat, but I do know it makes for a better community for everyone; certainly not a budgetary crisis, though.

As to the report– why does someone have to fall on the information sword and give IFF personal information to get this magnificent report?
Zip Code??? doing too much data mining over there at IFF- for anti-government principles they sure want to be just like ‘big brother’.
Will we now be interrogated as to party affiliation for their next report?
Transparency or control freaks????

Four of the five ‘conclusions’ of the report have NOTHING to do with city budget waste. The city can’t control the whole housing supply & demand of the Boise Valley.

Will there now be a SMART Twin Falls?
A SMART Coeur d’Alene?
It’s all a ridiculous agenda; but thanks for the research!

Smart and IFF/TeaParty are not words I would put together in any report.

“Reasonable, limited government”?
How about if IFF accepts the ballots of the people, instead of filing a lawsuit to stop the will of the people???? (just because IFF doesn’t agree with the majority of Idahoans)

Idaho Tea Party and IFF are filled with characters like Rep Phil Hart (thief of public resources), and Rep Heather Scott (confederate flag fan) — suspect nut-jobs at best!

This report is simply to tell IFF followers, “Look, we did something. Now we need your money to do something else.”

IF the IFF had their way the whole city of Boise budget would be $1,000, and that “would come from the sky to be spent on nothing”—
“We don’t need no stinking government.”

I do not respond to who is and who isnt respected. People doing so is how we ended up with an outsourced and extravagant library proposal that no one wants but were still forced to pay for. I am sure there were plenty of local architects that could have preformed such a service for far cheaper. I guess they were not as respected as that out-of-state feller. (sorry, I know that kind of stings)

Ill read it though; give it a fair shot. And I do appreciate the link. I dont mean to quash your efforts in these comments.