Sorry for taking so long to get around to things this week. It’s been a little busy around the house and I have been thinking about what happened on Monday night. I wanted to let it soak in and really think about it before I shared with you. I have been looking at the city budget for a few weeks and thinking about things that could be cut or should be cut, thinking about things that should stay and things that must stay.
It’s been a struggle for some families making ends meet the past year or two. Some families have had to only cut back on going out to eat or not taking a vacation while some have had to make much more difficult decisions. Maybe they have an adjustable rate mortgage that they did not entirely understand and now they are facing a foreclosure. Some families have lost one income that they depended on and are now facing very difficult choices. Our city is facing many of these same challenges.
It is no secret that Columbia is losing income. Income based on sales tax makes up a large portion of the city’s revenue for the general fund. Columbia made some cut backs last year in an effort to keep their revenues greater than expenditures. The council then covered the shortfall of revenue with transfers of funds from the capital development fund.
Going into Monday meeting the council again planned to dip into the capital development fund to cover shortfalls in revenue. Former mayor Les Schnider spoke before the council meeting asking the council to stop using these funds to cover shortfalls in revenue. His main point being that if the pattern continues then Columbia is not fixing their problem, they are only spending down reserves and savings while seemingly ignoring the main issue. Columbia is spending more money than they are taking in.
The council began to talk over the budget and it became clear that the majority of the council felt some cuts should be made. No one wanted to be the person who said what should be cut. The game that was played by the council in passing the buck around the table for what must have been an hour was ridiculous. Alderman Row made the first real proposal for cuts that were of substance. He seemed to be the first that took the step from saying “this item seems excessive to me what does everyone else think” to “here is what I think we should cut anyone disagree?” No political figure wants to say things that may seem bad to voters. Cutting projects and upgrades is not a popular idea.
The discussion went on and cuts were made. A budget voted “no” on by Mary Ellen, Gene, and the Mayor was passed on Monday.
I do not want to come across like I cannot see the point of view supported by the “no” votes. Just because the item is budgeted for does not mean they would have to buy every item throughout the year. Maybe revenue will be greater than the numbers we have projected. I believe that sure if months from now when Ron Williams came to a meeting and asked to purchase a new truck that was in his budget that if money was tight the council could say no. I also believe that every department head will work to keep their spending in under budget and maybe making hard choices without the council stepping in. I know all of this to be true.
The reasoning that the budget is a worst case scenario did not make it ok. If that worst case became a reality then we as a city would be in a bad situation mid year, I understand people will be monitoring things throughout the year but if you leave yourself some breathing room up front things are much simpler down the line, things like pay raises and emergencies we have not projected for in the budget.
I would love to have some feedback on this topic as I know I do not fully understand all issues facing our city. Hopefully in the next year things get back on track and our city can experience some growth and not be faced with these situations in the future.
Again if you were at the meeting and feel I have mis-stated the facts then by all means comment here or email me and I’ll post your comment for others to read.
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