So you’re Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, and you’ve got problems. The housing market’s collapse has virtually wiped transfer tax revenue, and you’re facing a budget deficit of somewhere between $15 million and $20 million. You have to submit a budget to the City Council, and you’ve gotta cut desperately needed social services, road paving programs, park staff, all sorts of stuff. The budget has to be approved by June 30, and city councilmembers want the numbers so they can ask their residents what they think at town meetings in their districts. What do you do? You tell the City Council you need two more weeks, of course. According to the Trib, Dellums was supposed to submit his budget proposal to the council last Friday, but has now informed City Hall that it won’t be ready till May 23. Irritated councilmembers have no choice but to wait and see what the mayor plans to do, and hope that a month and change is enough time to review the plans and make an informed decision. But at least Dellums isn’t taking 18 months to figure out what to do, like he did when he first got elected.
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