Yet another reason why Government doesn't work..do you agree?

Question

First I'm not saying ALL government is bad or it's not needed...just 70% of it!

In our town we recently had a four lane road re-paved in front of our NEW Court (old one was 10 years old) at a cost of taxpayers of 12 million dollars..a perfectly good road in very good shape.
Serveral people wrote into the local newspapers asking why???...and how much $$$

Finally after it was completed and the local paper pushed for answers "WE" the people were told that if they didn't spend the money that their budgets would be cut the following YEAR! That was the REASON!!!!!!!!!!!

What an OUTRAGE!!!!!!!

Does anyone else understand this???????

Answer 1

Having been a taxpayer for some 35 or so years, and a municipal bureaucrat around that long ago, I can fully understand your outrage, and I applaud you for it. I've heard that sick excuse for spending money many times before, in a lot of programs where government money is being drained by certain departments and individuals, and from the narrow mind of the bureaucrat it makes perfectly good sense, but from the wider perspective of the tax payer, it's abhorrent! That philosophy, however, of spending what you can so you can get at least that same amount in next year's budget, has been around a LONNNNNGGGGGGGGGGG time, and it's gonna take a LOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT of work to change. Have you ever thought of running for public office in your local government?? People need people like you!! It's a thankless job, however, so let me advise you to that perspective early on. God Bless you. I hope you can do something to save your fellow taxpayers some money.

Answer 2

Well, I understand it but it still doesn't make sense. Budgets in various county departments are set at the beginning of the fiscal year ( before July 01 ). The department ( Road Dept. ) has to make sure they use all of the money in last year's budget so they can justify asking for an increase, or at least avoiding a decrease, in the next year's budget. That means whatever money they have left over at the end of the fiscal year has to be spent. Hope that helps.

Answer 3

Yes, in order to keep finances coming for when the need DOES arise.
A waste, to procure more.
Oxymoronic? you bet. Do I think it was a fruitful expenditure, no- but do I see the reasoning behind it- yes; however, the procedures shouldn't be such that the officials would have ot be forced into making nonsensical decisions, THAT is the shame, not the raod being paved itself-- not the cost or the expenditure, but whatever policy is responsible forcing them to go to such measures only to protect their resevres. Resevres should be accessible or creatable to them when and only when the need arises- never short when needed, never excess when unecessary--- who says one size fits all, and that's all you entitled to? What neglect. What blindness (to the real needs of the time, be they more or less than what is alloted for)
This is such a thoughtless system; just as with schools- they assume that one curriculum will support all, and pay no mind to children who need more, or less- if you dont 'use' it, you 'lose' it, ie, you fail in class or aka the system 'fails you'.

Anyway I'm blabbering...

Answer 4

it is an outrage - I seen this before - every politician wants to look good in the public eye - so they make decisions for good or bad -
just so they look like they are doing something - Ive worked around county governments for 9 years - and that is the case - if they dont spend it - they lose it - so they find every dumb thing they can spend the money on so their appropriations arent cut the following year - stupid isnt it - in my city, our mayor wants to put a trolley systems right down the middle of a major throughfare - we havent had trolleys here in a hundred or so years - all this will do is screw up already screwed up traffic - there is no room for them and at our expense - lame brained isnt it - thats why they are called politicians - they know whats best for you!

Answer 5

The concept makes sense, but the way they spent the $$ was kind of ridiculous. The general rule of thumb is that if you want the same amount or more money given to your budget the next year, then make sure you use all of the budget up for the current year. It happens all the time, in offices, churches, schools,etc.

Answer 6

some government do such thing. their reason is that if u dont use the money allocated to u so why must u ask for more the next financial year(budget) and this is the practise of the old way of governing.if u got the extra money they will cut your allocation the next time

Answer 7

That is exactly the way government does business and it is absolutely worthless. You are right and there is not a thing that can be done about it it seems. Just one more reason to hate the government. Never ever do they do anything right. They are totally self-serving and will stop at nothing to get their way, including stepping all over anyone who disagrees with them.

Answer 8

Government doesn't work for the people. Government does work for the crooked politicians who got paid off by the contractor who built the road.

Answer 9

That's common with all bureaucracies. Many times reverse logic is excercised. If this happens at the local level, can you imagine the waste at the federal level?

Answer 10

That's just plain ridiculous. Spend your money on needless things to ensure you get the same amount of money, if not more, next year even when it's not really needed.