Pasadena city government spends more than a billion dollars a year. Yet vital needs are going unmet. It’s time for fundamental budget reform.

Compared to many other local governments, Pasadena has a remarkable record of fiscal stewardship. The tax base is strong. Where other cities have dwindling reserves, Pasadena has banked 20% of its General Fund. But no city can afford to sit on its assets.

Major threats loom, from the reality of federal funding cuts to the potential for a recession. The Eaton fire economically devastated thousands of local households. The pillars of Pasadena’s economy have been offices, retail stores and hotels. Yet working from home, online sales and the disruption of international travel undermine those very strengths.

Meanwhile, as an older city, Pasadena faces a whopping backlog of repairs and deferred maintenance on everything from its streets to its electrical system. A $195 million bond issue was hurriedly voted on last year after it was discovered that the Central Library failed current earthquake standards. But that’s just the tip of the hidden capital iceberg: unfunded needs exceed $2 billion. That doesn’t include the ambitious program of streetscape and public realm investments the city has spent the last decade planning. The success of Old Pasadena and South Lake shows that beautifying streets and creating walkable environments pays off in increased sales, property and business taxes as well as local employment.

The city spent millions on similar plans for North Lake, the Playhouse Village, North Fair Oaks, East Colorado and Lincoln Avenue. Not a dime has been committed to implement them.

In the face of climate change, we need to plant more trees; address fire danger in the Arroyo; green our parks; install more solar and batteries; and capture stormwater. After the firestorm, we also need to replace our outmoded fire stations.

That’s not all. Talking to thousands of voters in my campaign last year, the most common complaint was about unsafe streets. Not just speeding traffic, but the danger of simply walking or biking in much of Pasadena. Police traffic enforcement staffing has been cut by two-thirds in recent decades, even as dangerous driving has become an epidemic. With no funding in this year’s proposed Capital Budget for traffic safety projects, neighborhoods promised traffic calming or greenways will just have to wait. The same is true for meeting the crisis in affordable housing and homelessness, which only get worse the longer we ignore them. So what must be done?

We need fundamental reform of Pasadena’s budgeting, starting by putting the public and the City Council in the driver’s seat on setting priorities at the beginning of the budget cycle, We should give the public and commissions a voice before the budget is planned, not after it’s released.

We need a strategic approach to long-term investment in our future safety and prosperity. Given the magnitude of deferred capital needs, we need a plan that doesn’t put unsustainable burdens on taxpayers. Last year, the city abruptly hiked sewer, water and trash rates. Residents deserve a more equitable approach.

The most urgent need is to re-examine how we currently spend taxpayer dollars. We can’t afford “automatic pilot” budgeting, where the so-called “base budget” simply carries over the priorities and spending patterns of the past. It’s time to tighten our belts, just our like our residents are doing. I know from 20 years experience in city management that we can make substantial savings if we commit ourselves to challenging “the way we’ve always done it.”

Change is never easy. But Pasadena can’t wait until it faces the dire budget challenges confronting other cities. It will be far easier and more responsible to start now than wait until we too must contemplate drastic service cuts, lay-offs and infrastructure failures. An ounce of prevention is cheaper than a pound of cure.

Rick Cole rejoined the Pasadena City Council last year and serves on the Finance Committee. He previously served as Pasadena mayor and councilmember before he was city manager of Azusa, Ventura and Santa Monica and deputy mayor for budget in L.A.