No dog looks forward to the pain brought about by the tail cropping procedure – especially because cropping is purely a cosmetic endeavor. Imagine, if dogs had to endure this painful and ugly procedure year after year simply to remain in fashion.

Collectively, Duluthians don’t appear to take much interest in the fact that our city government allows – and, seemingly, embraces – painful budget battles every year. It is only after these battles are fought that the city is able to control the budget. This cycle is tantamount to having our proverbial budget tail whacked off every year - one inch at a time -so we can balance the books.

Perhaps the citizenry suffers from issue fatigue. And it is this fatigue that allows all of us to look the other way when the budget issue is presented for discussion. I can only surmise that most citizens smirk at the “politics” of the whole matter. Busy citizens do not want to get involved in such complicated issues. Rather, they trust the mayor and the city council to resolve the city’s budget issues - without significantly raising taxes.

This year, whether or not this scenario plays out remains to be seen. What is of concern, however, is the looming budget crisis of our own making. For years, we have promised employees benefits while, at the, same we’ve ignored the significant cost associated with such promises. Instead, we simply whack off another inch to make the budget work.

We make the numbers work, that’s what we do. We cling to the political promises of past administrations and simply make the budget balance – at least for another year – through an acidic and painful process. Then, like any good dog, we forget about it … until it’s cropping time the following year.

Duluthians will soon line up to have their tales cropped again – at least proverbially speaking – without the proper anesthetic to assuage the pain. Political promises have come due – as they always do. And, this time, all the budget forces - flat sales taxes, less than expected revenue from the state, and political promises in the form of overly ambitious labor contracts - have left little money for us to afford any budgetary anesthesia. We will endure the pain fully this year.

When, when will we learn?