I would like to express my appreciation for the Herald’s coverage of the recent city budget shortfall and its impact on the quality of Baker and Baker City Council’s goals. According to information from the city manager, budget cuts have been suggested, which would directly affect the quality of life in Baker. Additionally, I believe it was disclosed that there is somewhere around $900K in excess ARPA funds (federal COVID-19 aid) that could potentially be used to address the city manager’s recommended “shortfall” budget cuts over the next two years.

A gas tax has also been proposed, but it seems that no research, business case, or ROI analysis has been conducted on the matter. It appears to be more of a spit-balling approach, tossing ideas without proper evaluation like spaghetti against the wall.

Councilman Guyer attempted to pass a motion for a $15 safety fee on all our water bills to address the shortfall, later reduced to $10 by Waggoner without any public collaboration, back-up accounting, and/or ROI analysis. This has raised concerns about transparency and accountability in the decision-making process.

Furthermore, the city manager expressed frustration at not receiving any direction from the city council for the past two years, and Guyer and Waggoner seem to be attacking the (prior) mayor instead of taking responsibility for their culpability. And oh yeah, the city recorder, Dallas, has resigned over the beast of burden.

It seems that our incumbent leadership of Guyer and Waggoner, along with the city manager’s budgetary oversight, who have been in their positions for over two years, may be a little more responsible for the current shortfall, as opposed to the members who have only been in office for four months?

As a homeowner in Baker, who plans to retire here, it matters to me who our leaders truly are. It should matter to all of us. It reminds me of Einstein’s quote, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

I urge the Herald to continue investigating this matter. Thank you.

Michael Russell

Baker City