Budget Time in Washington! Hazzah!

 

House of Representatives Passage of Trump Budget/ Photo: C-SPAN

By Rick Fisher, Retired Town Manager,

When I was younger, I called myself a Blue Dog Democrat- strong on defense, supporting critical community services to serve the poor, the disabled, and our seniors, infrastructure improvements, support for our allies overseas, and all within a balanced budget.

In my experience in local government, our focus was often on roads maintenance, road improvements, storm-water controls, vehicle and equipment maintenance and replacement, and infrastructure improvements. We would donate to local non-profit community-based organizations, maintain our municipal structures,  serve the people, respond to their complaints, and find solutions to community problems.  We also had to deal with storms, floods, snow and ice, and the occasional natural disaster.

And we had to either get the job done within the approved budget, or have retained earnings to carry over in case next year is the natural disaster year.  If we couldn't make a budget that worked, costs too high, revenue dipping, we would have to raise taxes.   We could not run a deficit.  That is why preparing the budget was my favorite challenge.   And I succeeded over six years, in two different towns in two different states, to propose a balanced budget each year, with no new taxes, receive budget approval and then proceed to collect taxes that met expectations and run the government within the budget.

The citizens or their representatives in my communities could have taken it a step further and propose tax reductions.  But that requires a leap in human nature,  we don't want to trust our appointed officials that much and then end up holding an empty boot and an I.O.U. if they are wrong.  It is difficult for elected officials to stand up in front of their neighbors and admit they made a mistake on a critical line item.  That is why the challenge was so much fun and the result so rewarding.  

Budget numbers are not facts, but rather an estimate based upon factual expense data from previous years. They include an estimate of what the future needs might cost, and what new stuff we are planning to add to the budget. So we create 5 and 10-year plans for each area of expense, roads more elaborate than office administration.  Our elected officials cannot vote to raise the debt ceiling.

The citizens get involved as we hold public meetings on the budget.  The refrain No New Taxes dominated the meetings, and the request for more community services could also be heard.  Two competing forces, kind of like we see on the National stage between Democrats and Republicans.

Since I enjoy preparing budgets like some folks enjoy vanilla ice cream cones, I am going to take a deeper dive into the budget proposed by President Trump and approved by the  House of Representatives and share my budget thoughts with all of you.  I think it will be revealing, revolting, reviled, refreshing, and potentially something I can relieve myself upon.