OC Budget Meeting 2008
On Monday, my bowling team ended their seventeen game losing streak while I was attending the county budget meeting. I would like to think that my bowling team found inspiration because of my civic mindedness and sacrifice of time, but that is doubtful to say the least. The meeting ended in time for me to make the second and third games, neither of which I bowled very well in, which led me to think I probably should have just stayed home because my attendance at the budget meeting did not go well either.
Missing from this meeting was the cavalcade of groups summoned to thank the county for funding their projects or agencies. I am not sure if that was by design or not. The PowerPoint presentation from this year looked remarkably similar to the one presented last year, with numbers and percentages flying from every direction and the word MANDATED spelled out in capital letters to let viewers know that it was a MANDATED program. I suppose the capitalization of the word MANDATED was meant to show frustration on the part of the county in dealing with the state, I can appreciate that, I feel pretty helpless when I deal with county government and their SPENDING INCREASE.
After the presentation, Chairman Smith asked if there were any questions from the floor, I was the only person who asked any, Mr. Smith did not answer any of them; instead, he surrendered the podium to Chief Administrative Officer Charles Nesbitt. There is no denying that Nesbitt knows the budget process well, almost too well. I consider myself to be at least of average intelligence and I had a real hard time understanding a lot of what he was saying. I guess I am not alone, as Smith did not even attempt to clarify anything Nesbitt said, nor did Mr. Callard.
In fact, the only legislator who addressed any questions about the budget was Lynne Johnson. When I asked why there was no mention of the county jail project nor money put aside for it, she courteously replied that she can't see taxing people for something that they don't even know if they are going to build. I appreciated her answer, even though I did not agree with it, and as usual, she seemed to be the only elected official in the room who actually cared what members of the public think, and was able to field a question in a polite and easy to understand way. I will address the jail issue and Ms. Johnson's answer in another column.
As for the rest of the legislature, I may as well have been staring at Mt. Rushmore. Not only was I unimpressed with their performance, I found it downright discouraging. In five years, the county budget has increased by over twenty percent and yet I did not hear a single mention of salary cuts for legislators, or any other specific cost saving moves. Instead, the theme was how the county raises revenues, and they have done it by raising fees and keeping sales tax receipts, a regressive system that places more of the burden on people with fixed incomes. And they will continue to do it as long as we let them.
Missing from this meeting was the cavalcade of groups summoned to thank the county for funding their projects or agencies. I am not sure if that was by design or not. The PowerPoint presentation from this year looked remarkably similar to the one presented last year, with numbers and percentages flying from every direction and the word MANDATED spelled out in capital letters to let viewers know that it was a MANDATED program. I suppose the capitalization of the word MANDATED was meant to show frustration on the part of the county in dealing with the state, I can appreciate that, I feel pretty helpless when I deal with county government and their SPENDING INCREASE.
After the presentation, Chairman Smith asked if there were any questions from the floor, I was the only person who asked any, Mr. Smith did not answer any of them; instead, he surrendered the podium to Chief Administrative Officer Charles Nesbitt. There is no denying that Nesbitt knows the budget process well, almost too well. I consider myself to be at least of average intelligence and I had a real hard time understanding a lot of what he was saying. I guess I am not alone, as Smith did not even attempt to clarify anything Nesbitt said, nor did Mr. Callard.
In fact, the only legislator who addressed any questions about the budget was Lynne Johnson. When I asked why there was no mention of the county jail project nor money put aside for it, she courteously replied that she can't see taxing people for something that they don't even know if they are going to build. I appreciated her answer, even though I did not agree with it, and as usual, she seemed to be the only elected official in the room who actually cared what members of the public think, and was able to field a question in a polite and easy to understand way. I will address the jail issue and Ms. Johnson's answer in another column.
As for the rest of the legislature, I may as well have been staring at Mt. Rushmore. Not only was I unimpressed with their performance, I found it downright discouraging. In five years, the county budget has increased by over twenty percent and yet I did not hear a single mention of salary cuts for legislators, or any other specific cost saving moves. Instead, the theme was how the county raises revenues, and they have done it by raising fees and keeping sales tax receipts, a regressive system that places more of the burden on people with fixed incomes. And they will continue to do it as long as we let them.
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