Hamilton City Council is dealing with a budget dilemma of Gordian Knot proportions. Tug on one strand of the knot and you create some needed slack, but you also create tension someplace else. In Greek mythology, Alexander the Great solved the original Gordian Knot problem in dramatic fashion - brandishing his mighty sword he cut it in half. Hence the expression "cutting the Gordian Knot," meaning using a simple solution to solve a complex problem.

City council has no real or metaphorical sword. Hence the sweat, blood, tears and tension emanating from City Hall as councillors and staff try to find some palatable compromise that minimizes tax increases but doesn't cut services and generates enough revenue to allow the city to do things it wants to do - and must do.

It's customary for editorial boards to take a dim view of budget histrionics and to pillory them in word or illustration. We are doing the latter, but not the former. Council and staff have done a credible job so far at bringing down an unacceptably high tax increase to a still painful but more reasonable 2.3 per cent - an extra $76 for a property worth $315,000. Councillors made some tough decisions to get to this point, including chopping 84 positions from the city workforce.

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But that doesn't tell the whole story. Fees to use city recreation centres and other services will go up. Same thing with parking rates. Badly-needed investment in the HSR - new equipment, new drivers, expanded service - will be suspended for this year at least.

And that increase isn't what many taxpayers will feel. At the same time, property values are increasing and therefore assessed value has grown. That means the 2.3 per cent gets lumped in the assessment increases, meaning residents in some wards will see much higher increases, with Wards 1, 2 and 3 taking the biggest hit - possibly five per cent or more. Mountain and suburban residents will see smaller increases. No one will be thrilled, but remember, the value assessment of your property is a provincial responsibility, not municipal.

The worst part of all this? The budget is a Band-Aid. Next year will be as bad or worse. As city manager Chris Murray has reminded us again and again, the problem is fundamental and systemic. For reasons council doesn't control, the commercial/industrial tax base is a shadow of its former self. So the residential share of the burden is disproportionately heavy. Cities need new ways to generate revenue, but senior governments have to sign off on that and they haven't been overly helpful.

All council has done, notwithstanding its noble efforts, is kick these problems down the road where they will pounce again next year. And the year after. Sooner or later we will have to pay for the city we want. Tax hikes of 2.3 per cent won't get us there.