New council faces steep challenges
By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published November 8, 2007
It is hard to read much into a St. Petersburg City Council election in which fewer than 1 in 10 voters bothered to go to the polls. The disappointing lack of interest may suggest few residents have major issues with the city's direction, or that the council isn't as visible under a strong mayor, or that voters are more frustrated with their elected leaders in Tallahassee and Washington than those closest to home.
Voters wisely kept two incumbents, James Bennett and Herb Polson. They also surprised some observers by electing two newcomers: Bill Dudley, the former Northeast High wrestling coach who ran for a council seat once before, and Wengay Newton, a neighborhood association president. While we did not recommend Dudley or Newton, they ran solid campaigns and have the potential to be valuable contributors on the council. We congratulate them on their victories.
When Dudley and Newton take office in January, this will be a less experienced council than St. Petersburg is accustomed to seeing. Only two of the eight members of the council will have more than two years of current experience. Yet the challenges posed by state-imposed tax rollbacks and revenue caps - and the prospect of further spending cuts if a constitutional amendment is approved in January - will be formidable. All four winning candidates on Tuesday were backed by the firefighters union, which is in contract negotiations. But candidates who made big promises about additional benefits may find those pledges difficult to keep.
Down the road, it might be wise to reconsider the 2001 decision to move St. Petersburg city elections from the spring to the fall. At the time, supporters of the charter change said it would give the mayor and council members more time after the election to prepare to take office - and they would take office closer to the beginning of the city's budget cycle.
But in the three St. Petersburg general elections since the change, voter turnout has been well below the norm during the previous two decades. If the trend highlighted by Tuesday's dismal turnout continues, the election schedule should be re-examined.