We’re almost a month into 2012 and few people could have predicted the eventful headlines that would come out of the County administration building so far this year, especially regarding the budget which was finally passed after some initially continuous opposition. While you’ve been able to keep track of the overall discussion and finger pointing that’s taken place through our news coverage, there are a few sometimes subtle, but important themes that haven’t grabbed many peoples’ attention and consideration.
The County Commission has cited one main reason why this year’s budget has required them to make, in some cases, drastic cuts and they’re not afraid to tell you every chance they get. It’s what is referred to as the federal government’s unfunded mandate to upgrade emergency radio equipment. They point it out to as a way to lay the blame of the financial burden at the foot of the federal government, but leave out its purpose.
When the 9/11 Commission report was released in 2004, it cited first responders’ outdated equipment as something that could have saved lives if properly functioning. With this in mind, the federal government issued a requirement for local governments to update their emergency equipment to save lives in the future. The deadline to meet the requirement was set for 2013.
Here in Platte County it may apply in the event of a tornado, flood, or any other emergency where lives could be saved based on response times and effective communications. Giving local governments nearly nine years to implement it was to provide elected officials the time and flexibility to financially manage and budget the costs. It was never intended to be crammed in at the very end like a college student studying for a mid-term. This goes to one of the few fundamental roles county government serves which is to manage the county’s finances responsibly with long-term stability and strength in mind. By most indications, this was simply kicked down the road, no matter how burdensome of a requirement it may be.
While the cuts needing to be made now for the (lack of) budget planning previously are reality, there’s another approach that seems to be playing out. When it comes to budgeting and taxes, the County’s perceived strategy over recent years can go by many different names, one of which simply goes by ‘starve the beast’. With three Republicans on the commission, it’s no surprise their goal is to cut county expenses and lower taxes. That’s reasonable if well-planned, done responsibly, and for the right reasons. As taxpayers, expectations for county government are usually pretty basic. Quality roads, law enforcement protection, customer service, and financial management are the big ones. Usually as a manager, not a politician, you look to cut inefficiencies as much as possible without hurting the results or effectiveness. In a government setting, this would usually be done by lowering expenses to the point where service quality maximizes the benefit to people at the lowest cost, then a tax cut would be merited to reap the savings.
What Platte County has been doing over recent years though is the opposite. The Commission has continuously lowered general fund taxes, therefore causing and requiring the need to cut expenses in the next year’s budget, sometimes at the peril of service and quality as voiced by office holders themselves. Economic conditions aside, this can dramatize budget situations in some years. Their thought is if you ‘feed’ the government less tax revenue, then it can only get skinnier. The question is at what point do you start to sacrifice the muscle? It may have been inadvertent, but this is something Sheriff Richard Anderson and Prosecutor Eric Zahnd made admirable cases for and won in voicing their departments’ cases for less drastic cuts in the revised and approved budget. Proof some long-respected conservatives know the real effects of drawn down resources over time.
Last is Platte County’s favorite political football, the ½ cent parks tax. While Zahnd certainly renewed the debate a couple weeks ago on why the county has a dedicated tax for parks and recreation, but not for law enforcement, there remains the often ignored fact that the tax was approved by voters in 2009 for ten years and isn’t up for renewal for another seven. While the commission could decide to put a revision in front of the voters, it’s an extremely poor precedent to set in good government when you essentially overturn something voted on by the people. This is something the state legislature has continuously done by overturning previously approved statewide ballot measures to the frustration of many. In 2009, the Commission had Platte County choose between two poor options in the form of a ‘yes’ or ‘no vote, a tax to fund parks at a rate probably set too high or barely funding it at all. It should have been an easily mitigated issue before it even went on the ballot as many Platte Countians agree with some form of a parks tax, just not the one currently in place.
None of these topics serve as a basic source of excitement or interest to most, but they are some of the real issues involved in governing, which is very different than politicking. If county office holders had not objected to the Commission’s version of the budget, many of these topics may well have never come up in public discussion. If anything, they raised our awareness to the many good government opportunities our elected officials have on a regular basis we rarely hear of, and just as consequential, those that are passed up on.
