{"id":18626,"date":"2026-02-26T18:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T18:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=18626"},"modified":"2026-02-26T18:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T18:52:18","slug":"tension-at-the-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/26\/tension-at-the-top\/","title":{"rendered":"Tension at the Top"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Donald Perryman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Rev. Donald L. Perryman, Ph.D.
\n<\/strong><\/em>The Truth Contributor<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

If two men agree on everything, you may be sure that one of them is doing the thinking. \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\u2013 <\/em>Lyndon B. Johnson<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The days of rubber stamps may be over \u2014 and I am impressed.<\/p>\n

When Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz submitted his latest budget, Toledo City Council didn\u2019t just tweak it. They sent it back.<\/p>\n

In the past, budget negotiations at City Hall often meant trading one district or councilperson\u2019s priorities for another\u2019s, or quietly conceding to whatever the mayor proposed. In the end, it is usually the residents\u2019 priorities that get \u201csold down the river.\u201d<\/p>\n

This time, city council found its backbone and refused to play that game. Their message was blunt: Cut five percent, Mr. Mayor!<\/p>\n

Mayor Kapszukiewicz pushed back. \u201cYou can\u2019t just take five percent from everywhere,\u201d he argued. \u201cNot from police. Not from fire. Those are core services. Public safety isn\u2019t a place for arbitrary math.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council\u2019s response? Then cut more somewhere else. But the total must come down by five percent. Period!<\/p>\n

And back it went \u2014 like a gavel dramatically striking the podium, signaling the deal was far from done.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t just a disagreement over numbers. It was a power-moment. It is a sign that city council is maturing and not acquiescing to the past, where one person \u2014 the mayor \u2014 dictates how things are going to be. Now, we apparently have a city council that thinks they are \u201cgrown,\u201d and have the nerve to ask questions, challenge the mayor, and are even here to decide!<\/p>\n

That\u2019s new. And it\u2019s dramatic.<\/p>\n

But Kapszukiewicz isn\u2019t backing down quietly. His argument is just as forceful: \u201cWe can\u2019t just sit still and do nothing. Nor can we cut ourselves back to financial health.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his view, Toledo\u2019s problem isn\u2019t simply spending too much. It\u2019s not growing enough. If the city keeps trimming without building, he warns, it risks shrinking its way into stagnation. His administration has been pushing a bold development strategy through the Toledo Community Improvement Corporation \u2014 using long-term revenue from a regional agreement to invest in land and spark new housing and growth.<\/p>\n

Thus, in simple terms, the standoff is this: A council flexing new muscle versus a mayor defending his vision. City council is saying, \u201cTighten the belt.\u201d Kapszukiewicz says, “Build the future.\u201d All while the public watches to see who blinks first.<\/p>\n

Yet, both are speaking to the same reality \u2013 the post-ARPA environment where federal relief funds softened hard choices during COVID. \u00a0That temporary cushion is gone, and more tax-collected money is now being paid out than we are taking in, a recipe for financial disaster.<\/p>\n

Council has said no to drawing from the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) and the rainy-day fund to balance the short-term budget shortfall. Their message is clear: \u201cIf we spend the cushion now, what happens next year?\u201d<\/p>\n

Council\u2019s stance reflects caution. Residents feel squeezed. Costs are rising. Families tighten their own budgets when money gets tight \u2014 why shouldn\u2019t the City of Toledo?<\/p>\n

The mayor\u2019s stance reflects urgency. Cities don\u2019t revive themselves by cutting. They grow by attracting people, building neighborhoods and expanding the tax base.<\/p>\n

So here we are.<\/p>\n

But the truth is that this doesn\u2019t have to end in a winner-take-all showdown.<\/p>\n

Council is right to demand discipline. The mayor is right to demand forward movement. The city cannot afford reckless spending \u2014 nor can it afford paralysis.<\/p>\n

The drama at One Government Center may actually be a sign of something healthy: a government wrestling with hard choices in public rather than rubber-stamping them behind closed doors.<\/p>\n

So, the question really isn\u2019t who wins. It is whether Toledo can take the tension at the top \u2014 this administrative tug-of-war \u2014 and turn it into something stronger: a city that trims where it is forced, protects what matters, yet finds the courage to build what comes next to build resources that bring additional revenues to this community.<\/p>\n

Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, PhD, at <\/em>drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rev. Donald L. Perryman, Ph.D. The Truth Contributor If two men agree on everything, you may be sure that one of them is doing the thinking. \u00a0\u00a0\u2013 Lyndon B. Johnson   The days of rubber stamps may be over \u2014 and I am impressed. When Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz submitted his latest budget, Toledo City […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,252],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[336],"class_list":["post-18626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial-opinion","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18627,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18626\/revisions\/18627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18626"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=18626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}