Balancing Act: Building A Budget We Can Live With

Orange Review
Published: March 6, 2008

The cost of life doesn’t go down.

Food costs rise. Gas costs really rise. Utilities cost more. Everything does.

As our nation’s economy struggles, so do many of us. We try to do more with less. Our dollar just doesn’t go as far as it once did.

It’s at these times that we, as individuals and families, evaluate our budgets.

We consider the essential services–food, shelter, clothing, medical care, utilities, transportation. At the same time, we consider our extraneous expenses like travel and recreation.

We make real choices based on what we can afford. We make hard decisions that may be painful and unpopular. We do the best we can.

Last week, our board of supervisors got their first look at the complete county budget. They saw a $165,568,671 budget–up 15 percent over last year’s. To adequately fund everything in the proposed budget, the county would need to increase real estate taxes $.09.

That’s a hard sell–especially to people who are paying taxes on homes that no longer are worth what they’re assessed.

Our supervisors are in a tight spot. Three of them just got elected. Raising taxes isn’t a popular way to reward a supportive electorate. At the same time, the county faces challenges that many of our employers currently face–how to provide an existing or increased level of service in the current economy.

It’s no easy task.

At this stage of the game, the budget is a fluid document, ever changing up and down. Items are added and subtracted. Seldom does the adopted budget ever mirror its first iteration.

Still, the board has to balance citizens’ need for services with an ability to pay. That’s always critical, but even more so now that the ability to pay is compromised in our current economy.
They know this because they’re taxpayers themselves.

We don’t want to pit county departments against each other in a competition for funding and we don’t want to advocate one good program over another.

Instead, what we’d ask, is that our supervisors carefully consider the best way to maximize our tax dollars across the services we need while creatively considering ways to improve efficiency. Or, simply put, what we’re all trying to do with our household budgets.

At the same time, we encourage citizens and taxpayers to share their thoughts, ideas and suggestions with the board. After all, they are our agents. They represent us. Let’s let them know how we feel.