I must say that Jim Robinson makes a good point about seeking change in Redmond government (Letter to the Editor, Feb. 7 issue).

Had the letter been written 18 months ago it would have been both timely and prescient.

In 2007, Redmond voters led the nation by electing a new Mayor and three new Councilmembers. Given that there will be at least one new Councilmember elected this November, by next January a majority of the Council will have no more than two years of elected Council experience.

Such change is unprecedented in my 32 years as a Redmond resident.

Rather than lauding the change that has occurred in the last year, Mr. Robinson criticizes the new Budgeting By Priorities system promoted by Mayor Marchione, Finance Committee Chair Richard Cole, and possibly all of the current Council membership. The new process achieved undreamt levels of public participation in every priority. Not only did we establish a hierarchy of uses for our municipal revenue dollars, we now have an orderly way to reduce spending if tax revenues fall short in our current recession.

How does this compare to the previous budgeting method? First of all, there is much greater transparency. We have put into practice detailed reports to keep the Council and the public up to date on the true financial position of the city.

An example is the construction of Fire Station 17. Our voters approved the labor costs for the new fire station, but the previous administration had underfunded the necessary construction budget by $8-plus million out of a need of $11 million (nearly 75 percent underfunded). Moreover, the site purchased for the fire station was not big enough for a state-of-the-art facility. The city now has to purchase an adjacent lot to have adequate space.

We also know that our Mayor is committed to the budget and its inherent goals. Two years ago, the budget was passed in an acrimonious process by a 5-2 vote with Mr. Robinson voting against. Uncommitted to the budget, the former mayor proceeded to overspend by some $5 million, and added seven employees not authorized by the Council or the budget.

I fully believe that Mayor Marchione is committed to our budget, and we now have the reports to allow every citizen to keep track of our situation.

We have improved the transparency of our processes, citizen participation and the financial stability of the city. We even have enough good will and cooperation that the Mayor and all Councilmembers can pose for a smiling group portrait.

2008 was truly a year of change.

Hank Myers, Redmond City Councilman