Asheville City Council convened a workshop today to discuss options for financing capital improvements. Eight types of bonds were listed on a table. Staff ruled out using general obligation bonds, the only option requiring taxpayer approval. Presenters reiterated the factoids rehashed in all the quarterly reports for the last year or so. And three scenarios were given.

The meeting was as lame as my worst fears predicted. Council members either jumbled words in sentences as if they did not know what they meant but wanted to impress, and staff was at a loss for responding on many occasions. Then there were the, “I wasn’t listening to you,” questions. The bottom line is, if council wants to fund its seventeen master plans, it will have to float some serious bonds. Partnering was another option, but since everybody is anticipating deficits and wanting to be on the receiving end of a partnership, it is unclear who would cooperate.

Councilman Jan Davis argued that master plans do not necessarily represent the community will. Mayor Terry Bellamy would have none of that. The master plans with which I have any familiarity represent the 51% majority, the loud mouthed insistence, the acquiesced majority, the compromises, and the words put in citizens’ mouths by professional moderators in the consensus process. Then, some plans have their “pursuit” groups charged with hounding opinion leaders to support whatever “ink stains dried upon the line.”

Bill Russell, unlike most, demonstrated an understanding of money matters. Brownie Newman is savvy, too, but he is too optimistic about the economy. Russell said he was expecting more “meat and potatoes” from staff. When the meeting concluded, there was the sense that people who don’t have a clue about how money happens will be making big decisions affecting tax rates in the near future. In fact, if any member of council got anything out of the meeting besides a nice lunch, we’re in trouble.