Buckley’s budget represents sound planning and good luck

Mayor Gavin Buckley’s first budget was transformational. It did away with a lot of budget gimmicks Annapolis used to hide the cost of city services and then paid for that honest total with a property tax rate increase. There were complaints aplenty, and there still are. Expect it to be the focus of every Republican, and some Democrats, thinking it might be fun to be the mayor. So Buckley could have been excused for hoping the final budget in his four-year term — he’s asking voters for another four this fall — to be less of a challenge.