The whole idea of taking in bulk revenues and putting them into a general fund and then allocating out of that fund might have been a great idea when kings ruled the roost. And it might have been the most efficient way to keep track of things in the days before computers. But with our current accounting abilities we are able to dedicate and outline certain taxes for certain things. Some things within city budgets are quite clearly uncontroversial and necessary, such as parks and roads.. The money that is required for their upkeep is explainable in a straight forward manner. So could the collection of taxes related to them and the allocation of that money.
If we know that the basic upkeep of parks is say, $1 million a year, then we can count up the number of people and assess them a "fee" or "tax" that raises the $1 million. You could have funds for the creation of new parks. You could create wish fund. You could create a catastrophe fund. But in the long run you have to have a basic maintenance fund.
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While it might be in the interests of politicians to keep all the sources and expenditures of funds commingled, it is in the interests of the better workings of a city to have these things clearly delineated. Sure, it will take some new thinking, but we've got little else to do. xxx |
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City budgets, like the federal and state budgets, need to be divided into current budgets and capital budgets. Often they are talked about as if they were one thing. But money that is "budgeted" for capital improvements and infrastructure, aren't often paid out in the years in which they are budgeted. This then confuses many people who think that "well, we said we were going to spend the millions of dollars on a project." What is most often the case is that the millions budgeted are budgeted out over a number of years. It might seem like a good idea to hide it for the politicians, but in fact it is overall bad government. XXX . |
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City budgets should have opt in features so that people are presented with a list of programs that must be supported but that they are able to allocate some different portion of what they pay in taxes to the programs that they support. This would make the government immediately more responsive to the people governed. People would feel better about how 'their' tax dollars are spent. It would also give a much clearer picture of what the people actually want. Too many politicians are too quick to talk about what the "people want" and often you find that only a few people, who are very vocal and powerful, want a certain thing. XXX . |
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All city museums should be moved off budgets and into endowment programs. These endowment would become self-sustaining after awhile. And then with economic downturns they would not have to be faced with budget cuts and dismemberment. Indeed, it is counterintuitive, but during downturns in the economy is the very time when these museums are the most necessary as entertainment for the unemployed, as teaching tools and as just keeping up a sense that 'well, things are going to be all right.' It would also lessen the political beanbag contests between competing social and cultural institutions. The monitoring and operations of these endowments should be in the most conservative of investment structures, but over the next few decades, as they are all shifted to a new way of financing, they will become self-supporting on the interest alone. XXX . |
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Cities, suburbs and exurbs and nearby cities should all get together and cooperate on a regional plan for public transporation and road access. They need to cooperate about water and sewerage and garbage. When cities were first formed they indeed were 'regional' in nature. But the regions were smaller. We have now added new regions and the old regions have grown larger. To now cement into place the divisions and borders which made sense decades and centuries ago is absurd. The cooperation among these areas can only lead to a better public good for the entire region. XXX |
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