Chad Lawhorn’s Q&A with City Manager David Corliss on the city budget was informative and made clear the many problems with the proposed 2015 budget. City officials portray a property tax increase for the fourth straight year as inevitable. To provide basic services, property taxes must go up. But this characterization of the situation is inaccurate. In reality, significant — and avoidable — spending growth by the city is driving the tax increases.

Much has been made about the impact of tax cuts by the Legislature on local revenue streams. That is true for the county budget but not the city budget. City revenue has gone up recently — in fact, more than expected.

The real culprit behind the tax increases is the city’s unsustainable level of spending. Corliss in the Q&A mentions that the 2015 budget shows the growing challenge of personnel costs to the city. So what does he propose for the 2015 budget? Nine new staff positions, which, if approved, would result in 33 new staff positions for the city just since 2013.

Many of these new positions are unnecessary. The proposed budget includes a “director of arts and culture,” a nonessential position, if there ever was one. It also includes another new police hire after the department already has added eight positions since 2012. To top it off, the city commissioners gave themselves a raise, which increases the City Commission’s budget by 27 percent — the largest percentage increase of any entity in city government.

This budget is indefensible. The city manager and commissioners need to go back to the drawing board and learn to live within their means.