Do They Deserve Our Trust?
I thought I'd take a break from the China Diaries to opine on some local news.
Okay, imagine that you are preparing to fund your child’s college education. School policy requires your child to pay them directly and up front. You ask your child for a budget. Your child has been down this road before and makes sure that the budget is going to cover every possible situation; even some situations that may or may not materialize. You, the parent, have also been down this road and have no problem with cautious planning because you expect any unspent monies to come back to you. After all, it is YOUR money. Your child informs you that the budget is $25,000 and you graciously give your child the money and send them off to learn.
The school year is nearing an end and your child over estimated the cost of books and meals. It was believed that this cost would rise sharply during the budgeting process but fortunately that never happened. The college refunds a nice fat check for $5,000 to your child for the “surplus”. This unexpected windfall is like candy in your child’s hands and begins to think of all the ways it can be spent. That cell phone Mom and Dad pay for works fine but wouldn’t a new Blackberry with a data plan be so much more fun? Mom and Dad wouldn’t spring for the expanded version of cable TV in my dorm room and it’s time for movies on demand. Speaking of rooms; what better time for an upgrade!
Next year the parents are anxiously awaiting the budget for their child’s upcoming school year. Unfortunately those book and meals costs did rise sharply and suddenly the parents discover the additional costs of the Blackberry, data service, expanded cable and upgraded room. The new budget has risen sharply to $30,000 which your child argues the $5,000 increase is “in pace” with past year increases. Your investigation quickly finds out that the actual budget for the previous year was $20,000 and even given the rise in books and meals, the new costs would only be $25,000 if not for the added ongoing upgrades. Your child has spent your money without your approval and now you are in the difficult position of returning the budget back to normal. The college did its job by keeping cost down however your child did not fulfill their obligation to return the excess money back to its rightful owners.
Tax payers everywhere could find some reality to the above parable when observing how the government grows and grows. Some government entities actually look like heroes because it “appears” that they’ve saved the tax payer money and are even returning “some” of it back to you. In reality, tax payers should find little comfort in the fact that some of this wind fall was spent on pet projects (PORK) that completely circumvented the budgeting oversight process. To add further insult to injury, this “pork” will be added to the department’s budgets and become a “new” baseline for the next budgeting cycle. This is how it appears that the budget growth is so “small”. It is no surprise that this process creates a climate of mistrust and when it’s confronted the accusations of “negative tone” are soon to follow.
During last year’s Gilford budget debates, I pointed out that if the price of fuel remained around $2.50 per gallon then Gilford would see a huge surplus in money. By the time budget season ended for Gilford, the price of fuel was down to $2.50 per gallon. Combining the cost savings of both Municipal and School District fuel budgets would yield well over half a million dollars. I was told that any savings would be returned to the tax payer however if the price of fuel climbed beyond the budget it would require “special appropriations” to seek those funds. This sounds like a catch 22 but unfortunately that is the legal process and like the parents in the above parable, we are left to simply “trust” those in charge of spending our money.
It is not the fact that the Gilford School District spent the money that bothers me. It’s the fact that they spent the money without going through the normal budgeting process and they knew it! If the items purchased with the “surplus” money were absolutely necessary then it would have easily passed the normal budget process wouldn’t it? Perhaps all but the sidewalk project would have easily passed. I believe the sidewalk project should have been heavily debated given the fact that it was so grossly over budget. Is this the lesson we wish to teach our children? Is it okay to proceed with a purchase eve if your budget is way off? I give Paul Blandford kudos for questioning this wasteful spending. Maybe there is more to the story but I guess we’ll never know since it was done outside the normal budgeting process.
