I was reading in the Columbian new paper the other day and the county commissioners were talking about the budget for the next year. They were talking about how their spending was going up more than their revenue. They were complaining that because of a voter mandate their tax increases were capped at 1% plus new construction and with the current economy new construction was down 34%. Now even with normal new construction it would only and about 1% more to their budget so between the normal increase and new construction they would get about 2% or a little bit more each year. Now this is where it gets good.
They were talking about their surplus and how it was being eaten away and would soon be gone. Their reasoning was that with the cost of everything going up more than their revenue and here is the part I really like. With giving their employees 6% increase each year (remember payroll is 60% or more of their budget) their expenses go up faster than their income. Now isn’t that just the dumbest thing, anyone with a third grade education knows if your income goes up 2% you can only increase your expenses by the same amount or you will run out of money.
Now I know that everyone wants more money. I myself would like more and have asked for raises every year. For the last 4 years I was told no. My boss said they couldn’t afford to give raises. This year I got a raise and it amounted to 3% which equals less than 1% a year over the last few years. Now with the exception of government employees (count, state, city and federal) the average pay raise is less than 2% a year. Minimum wage has not gone up for a few years and when it does go up it is not that much. Our elected officials need to start to watch the way they spend our money we entrust to them. They need to write a realistic budget and stick to it.
I personally write a budget each year and have ever sense I got my first job so I would know what I can spend. I have found it incredibly valuable to me and would encourage everyone to do a budget each year. The simple fact is to spend what you have or less and that is how you get ahead. Our elected officials don’t seem to understand this and just keep spending as if their money was endless. If they need or want more they have the taxpayers to give them more. They don’t understand that we also have to live within our means so we cannot keep giving more and more to them otherwise we will not be able to balance our personal budgets.
The housing collapse was caused by several things one of which were people living beyond their means and all you have to do is look at the news or the stock market and you see what happens first hand when you spend more than you have. As we deal with this and try to solve the housing problem people forget about where the countries budgets are going. If we do nothing in a few years we will be facing a worse problem as our government faces the same problems the housing market is in the only difference is who will bail out the government except for us poor taxpayers.
Now what can we do about this problem. The first is simple pay for public employees should be capped at revenue increases, for example Clark County where I live sees a 1% increase plus new construction. This means they should only get pay raises of 2% a year. This gives them more money each year and keeps the budget in check. They say we have to give these big raises to keep quality people. The fact of the matter is if all state, county and city government did this then we would not have to worry about losing them as employees. The pay and benefits that public employees get is far better than most taxpayers get. It is time to level the playing field. Now from what I understand when a state, city or county job comes open they have hundreds of people put in for them.
Our elected officials have forgotten who they work for. They forget we are the ones who pay not only their pay checks but also all the public employees pay checks. If they keep living beyond their means they will not only bankrupt our government but the taxpayers too. We will become a nation in debt so far we will not be able to get out. It will not be easy but we need to start making cuts and stick to a budget. In good times you can spend a little more but you always need to save some for the future so our kids and our kids children are not handed a nation in debt.
If our elected officials can’t or won’t do this then we as citizens owe it to ourselves and our children to elect new ones who will. The public employees who work for us also need to understand that the days of huge pay raises are gone. If they don’t like their jobs or pay then let them find another job someplace else. But either way these huge pay raises need to stop or they need to live in the real world with the rest of us.
