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. – Lyndon B. Johnson
The days of rubber stamps may be over — and I am impressed.
When Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz submitted his latest budget, Toledo City Council didn’t just tweak it. They sent it back.
In the past, budget negotiations at City Hall often meant trading one district or councilperson’s priorities for another’s, or quietly conceding to whatever the mayor proposed. In the end, it is usually the residents’ priorities that get “sold down the river.”
This time, city council found its backbone and refused to play that game. Their message was blunt: Cut five percent, Mr. Mayor!
Mayor Kapszukiewicz pushed back. “You can’t just take five percent from everywhere,” he argued. “Not from police. Not from fire. Those are core services. Public safety isn’t a place for arbitrary math.”
Council’s response? Then cut more somewhere else. But the total must come down by five percent. Period!
And back it went — like a gavel dramatically striking the podium, signaling the deal was far from done.
This wasn’t 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 — the mayor — dictates how things are going to be. Now, we apparently have a city council that thinks they are “grown,” and have the nerve to ask questions, challenge the mayor, and are even here to decide!
That’s new. And it’s dramatic.
But Kapszukiewicz isn’t backing down quietly. His argument is just as forceful: “We can’t just sit still and do nothing. Nor can we cut ourselves back to financial health.”
In his view, Toledo’s problem isn’t simply spending too much. It’s 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 — using long-term revenue from a regional agreement to invest in land and spark new housing and growth.
Thus, in simple terms, the standoff is this: A council flexing new muscle versus a mayor defending his vision. City council is saying, “Tighten the belt.” Kapszukiewicz says, “Build the future.” All while the public watches to see who blinks first.
Yet, both are speaking to the same reality – the post-ARPA environment where federal relief funds softened hard choices during COVID. That temporary cushion is gone, and more tax-collected money is now being paid out than we are taking in, a recipe for financial disaster.
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: “If we spend the cushion now, what happens next year?”
Council’s stance reflects caution. Residents feel squeezed. Costs are rising. Families tighten their own budgets when money gets tight — why shouldn’t the City of Toledo?
The mayor’s stance reflects urgency. Cities don’t revive themselves by cutting. They grow by attracting people, building neighborhoods and expanding the tax base.
So here we are.
But the truth is that this doesn’t have to end in a winner-take-all showdown.
Council is right to demand discipline. The mayor is right to demand forward movement. The city cannot afford reckless spending — nor can it afford paralysis.
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.
So, the question really isn’t who wins. It is whether Toledo can take the tension at the top — this administrative tug-of-war — 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.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, PhD, at drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org