Life’s Not Fair

Sometimes life isn’t fair. We all know it but there are days that it really comes home to roost. Maybe you find yourself doing more than your fair share at home or the office. Maybe someone else comes off smelling like a rose and you end up smelling like the mulch. It happens. And there really isn’t a lot that can be done about it. Everyone gets the short stack of pancakes every once in a while.

That could be how some of the County departments are feeling right about now. All cuts are not equal. Some are relatively benign, they sting for a minute and then you move on. Like a paper cut. Some cuts are significantly deeper and it seems like the bleeding will never stop. And then there are those that seem to be more an amputation than a cut. Having extra money would be like living the Disney princess dream. From poverty to excess just doesn’t happen very often in public finances.

Rolling over funds is a good thing and a bad thing. While it could simple be the result of prudent spending, big roll overs usually have more to do with over projections than watching the pennies. And, while it is always good to put something back for a rainy day. It usually begins to pour around budget time and the first look will always go to the departments that had more than enough.

Don’t get me wrong, rolling money back into the County and School’s coffers makes for a better bottom line and that is great. I just wonder, and I am sure that the current Finance Director is wondering, how the 2014/15 budget ended up with such a miss. A fortunate miss to be sure but a miss none the less. A foggy crystal ball or blinking batteries on the calculator-whatever. At least this time we aren’t slipping further down the black hole and that is good news. Of course, if I was one of those County departments that ended up on the south side of the situation and still reeling from the cuts ( and there are more than one that made serious cuts) I might just be a little irritated at the excess. And if I were a sitting County Commissioner, I would be asking some serious questions and expecting some serious answers. Especially if I were sitting on the prevailing side. I suppose this is a great example of equal does not always equal fair.