On June 7, the auditorium at Fairview School was packed with Auburn citizens eager to share their thoughts with the City Council about the budget. Those citizens who spoke on behalf of education funding were not advocating a tax increase. They were asking the City Council to be more equitable about budget cuts.

The City Council was unfazed by this show of democracy in action. According to them, this is a tight budgetary year, and the city can’t afford “luxuries” such as school resource officers, advanced placement courses and automotive training for high school students. Auburn citizens who care about the quality of education in this community are left wondering: just what counts as luxuries?

Parking garages, the newly refurbished city building, festival plaza – there are those among us who regard these as luxuries, and ill-advised decisions. Unfortunately, we’ve already signed onto the debt, and we (and our children) will be paying it off for 30 years.

But are there a few more luxuries in the budget that might be trimmed? Details on the budget aren’t available, but the council plans to spend $300,000 on new furniture for the city building. In a year when teachers are being laid off, that sounds like a luxury to me.

This is one Auburn taxpayer who will be very happy to see old furniture in the new city building. The building, after all, belongs to the citizens of Auburn – not to the City Council.

Jane Costlow, Auburn

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