COMMENTARY

MARK SCHUMANN

During the city council’s workshops on the 2015-2016 budget, which are to begin Monday, Vice Mayor Jay Kramer will have little choice but to take a stand for tax increases, or to call for further cuts in spending and municipal services.

Understandable, Kramer, who is challenging Bob Solari for his seat on the Indian River County Commission, would prefer to avoid taking a position Solari could use against him in the 2016 election.  But that is then and this is now, and for now Kramer’s responsibility is to serve the people of Vero Beach.

Besides, Solari has plenty of his own baggage, including supporting tax increases, initially pushing for the controversial Oslo Boat Ramp, refusing to participate in the Indian River Lagoon Coalition, and generally stirring up and then perpetuating controversy between local governments.

At the close of a preliminary budget workshop held two weeks ago, Kramer said he wanted to the record to show that he would prefer to keep Vero Beach tax rate right where it is, in the bottom 25th percentile of Florida cities. If Kramer persists in his opposition to tax increases, then he owes it to the public, and to his fellow council members, to make specific proposal for more than $1 million in spending cuts needed to balance the city’s budget.

Either with an eye on the next election, or out of an inability to make difficult decisions, many politicians fail to level with voters about the difficult choices they face. Instead, they avoid solving problems, passing them on to be dealt with by future leaders.

In standing firmly against a power sale he believes is not a good deal for the city and its taxpayers, Kramer has in the past shown political courage. More courage will be needed of him next week, when he and his fellow council members must make a difficult and perhaps unpopular decision between further spending cuts or tax increases.