Throw in the Towel

Promises are a funny thing. Usually, when we make them, we have the best of intentions. We are trying to please or appease and that can’t be bad. Can it? If all things in the world are equal and the ball never takes a bad bounce, then sure. But that just isn’t how life goes, well, at least not my life. My ball is always bouncing out into the street and there is always on coming traffic.

It took me a lot of years to understand that there are no absolutes. Just as soon as I think that something is a sure thing, life proves me wrong. I am not complaining because that means that there is always opportunity but it is what it is. Opportunity is also one of those things that can have a nasty aftertaste if the ball rolls in front of a UPS truck.

The budget committee held to their promise of no tax increase, despite the advice of Finance Director Potts, and instead hung the budget on altering our County Debt Policy that requires that we keep a certain floor in the fund balance to accommodate should the ball take a bad bounce. I understand their need to keep their promise. In fact, I applaud the effort. It is refreshing to see a group of politicians keep their word. But, I am not convinced that this moral victory balances with fiscal responsibility. Tax Assessor Susan Gass was asked what a seven cent increase in property tax cost on a $100,000 residential property and the answer was $17 per year. Seven cents was the amount that the Finance Director recommended in property tax increase and that would have saved the reserves in fund balance and hospital lease money. The truth is that even if we balance the budget with only dips and cuts, you can’t cut deeper than the bone and you can’t dip into a dry account. We are simply putting off the inevitable and it will feel much better to have small increases than putting off and doubling up.

It was a rotten job with no good options and the budget committee shouldered years of unanswered debt increases, most of which they had nothing to do with because they happened on the watch of others. No one wants to be the one that says yes to a property tax increase, especially considering the wheel tax increase this year. It should have been done before now and it wasn’t. But that was then and this is now and should haves don’t really help us out of the hole. What can I say? They caught a bad bounce.

Like I said, promises, even those with the best intent, sometimes don’t play well with life’s curves. Like an additional $135,000 that will have to be paid because it was left out of this year’s budget and it was will be on top of the other dips and cuts. Stuff always happens. It is kind of like making a promise to never again throw a towel in the bathroom floor. And then the toilet overflows and you find yourself knee deep in, um, water. My bet is that you throw the towel on the floor. Just sayin’.