Cat herding and budget building

The long, drawn-out budget approval process is in full swing at Waterloo City Hall. That includes work sessions over multiple weeks. The mayor lays out how much of a tax increase is required to preserve current service levels while council members declare the largest increase they will support. Mayor Buck Clark says the process is like "herding cats."  Two council members --- Harold Getty and Bob Greenwood --- have not yet attended the work sessions, but will reportedly be back at a session this week. At last week's session, Ron Welper was the only council member who was willing to sign on to a 7 percent property tax increase to preserve city services at existing levels, as advocated by Clark. Others were only interested smaller increases: 3 percent for David Jones, 4 percent for Quentin Hart and 5 percent for Carolyn Cole (who noted that the process is painful and "sucks"). Steve Schmitt also won't go above a 3 percent  increase, but was clear that he wouldn't touch public safety staffing to make the cuts under that scenario. Instead, he says, "lets start counting toilet paper rolls." There is a conundrum in cutting police positions. Two years ago, the council overrode a veto from then-Mayor Tim Hurley to accept a $350,000 federal grant to help pay for five police officers. But the city has to repay the grant if  it allows staffing levels to dip before three years are up. So, cutting those positions may not help the city financially.  Union wage concessions have also been discussed. Find the full range of cuts that have been considered here.  In the meantime, neighboring Cedar Falls passed its budget Monday with a smaller tax increase and no cuts. And they had no hand-wringing work sessions in advance and barely any discussion.

Where's the bear?

Bears don't just disappear, people! After news stories tracking a young male black bear over the last month in The Courier, there have been no reports of the very non-Iowan animal for more than a week. The bear was heading in a southerly direction through Northeast Iowa. After being photographed near Jesup, he's apparently gone underground. But we have our suspicions of where the furry fellow could be found if people were just looking. Did you notice how Steve Schmitt single-handedly slowed down the process of hiking Waterloo parking fees (http://bit.ly/cN50pc)? Probably not really single-handedly. Or, hmmm, bear disappears and two men are shot in Waterloo (http://bit.ly/9HrpzN). Not likely a coincidence. Then the Red Cross offers free pie for a pint of blood (http://bit.ly/a4eBsy)? Well, where else would a bear go with that option out there? And with a bear roaming as the campaign season heats up, what's the chance that he won't end up at a few political rallies. I'm betting the Branstad camp has already picked up that bear. He needs 'em, trying to reach out to moderates while convincing the right wingers not to sit out the election (http://bit.ly/d5dJW6). To follow the bear's progress before he started campaigning for the former governor, check out these stories: http://bit.ly/cbkWLt; http://bit.ly/9s5K6P; http://bit.ly/a4pc2v; http://bit.ly/b2XOPB; ttp://bit.ly/9Ym0Qq; tp://bit.ly/anrWZa.