That’s the worst case scenario for 2011-12, courtesy of the city manager’s office and which the City Council will discuss today (click on the link that says “Budget Workshop #2” for a PDF).

Not to worry, though. The best case scenario is only a $41 million deficit. That’s because, of course, this is The Decade of Dallas. Imagine how much worse it would be if this was The Decade of Altoona, Pa.

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It’s too early in the budget process to do more than look at the presentation and hope things get better, in much the same way a poker player tries to draw two cards to a straight when he’s facing three aces. The only thing that seems certain is that the final budget will be somewhere around where it was in 2006-07 — which means we’ve spent five years spending money that we really didn’t have. Which makes my head hurt, actually.