A Penny for Your Thoughts

The calendar says Spring starts tomorrow-I was outside not that long ago (Truman was still President, I think) and based on the latter part of last week and earlier this week, I'm not sure if we didn't get stuck with defective calendars. But even though the dogs bark, the caravan moves on and it won't be that long before we're complaining about the heat and humidity, wistfully missing those same March winds that knifed through our clothes just the other day.

The days are getting longer and brighter but before we both fly away on gossamer wings of rhapsody, let's stay earthbound for just another moment and talk about municipal budgets. Ouch, that was a tough landing.

I've visited the city's website and looked at the meetings calendar,  so I can work out with my personal calendar a schedule to attend the budget hearings for our city departments as the City Manager and, ultimately, the City Council, begins what (mark my words) will be called (again) 'the toughest budget year' anyone in City Hall can remember. Except, of course, for last year. And the year before that and, well, you get the point. Someday, these will be the Good Old Days, just not now.

We select neighbors willing to accept the challenges of leadership who are our elected officials. (How many people turn out to vote and how they feel about are topics for another time.) We demand they and the appointed professionals with whom they manage so much of our city 'make hard choices' at budget time and then, when they do, we get angry with them for not making the hard choices we would like made.

But, hands on our hearts, none of us volunteer to serve a term of office. Nope, nobody's got time for that much head noise-but we can all make the time to watch from the sidelines and offer contradictory opinions we expect to be heeded as pure, unadulterated budgetary genius. This time of year, when it comes to money, we know it all and we know it all better.

 As we used to say in the Air Force, "if you're so smart, why aren't you rich?" (actually we said a little more than that but I'm trying for family appeal). And if we were rich, we'd still be unhappy with so much of how of our tax money is required for the successful operation of all levels of government.

Listening to the often sincere and thoughtful, but also conflicting, opinions offered at public hearings it always seems to come down to taxes and services. And there's no stomach for compromise and bargaining.

I think about that TV commercial for insurance where Peanuts' Lucy offers that insurance 'should cost five cents,' and the only non-cartoon character on the screen says rather quickly, "not everything can cost five cents." True that.

Looking at last year's budget, also on the city's website which has scads of useful information that people who have never been there complain bitterly about never finding, I admit I have no idea how much money it "should cost" for a public works department, or our school system or our police, fire and public safety.

I'm very happy we have experts for those questions, but I do think of myself as an expert on what happens if we don't have what we need. The trouble is I cannot tell you how to pay for what we want. We're almost to the point in the year where residents learn both the cost of where we live as well as the value. I hope we decide we're worth it.
-bill kenny