06/28/1990 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Assume .your budget authority is a City or County governing board. You send the administrator to submit and defend your budget. He is E: _looked upon as another ' ureaucrat, like all ,he othersre- p senting budgets. His annual 4 letter ��7;`' word is MORE. The �jj',� members of the ° governing board are aware of the toothless position of the presenter, smile sweetly, glance at the clock and give every speaker his turn at the podium. But if the Park Rec Board is in attendance, and, making the presentation, the governing board members' attitudeschange. They think, hey, CBMs are just like us: they'are not paid, we appointed them, they vote, help me in my campaigns, go to the same school or church, or bowl with see, etc. A different attitude exists. The governing board members realize that CBMs are telling what they will do andfor what they have cut out this year. I wonder how that will affect my area of town. What will the parents say? You get the idea. Try it. It WORKS, Budget Cuts Many municipal Park Rec agencies have had severe budget cuts in recent years due to the loss of outside money. The old fashioned answer to this one was that children did not vote and Park Rec was just ahead of Cemeteries on the municipal priority list. Today, with your heavy program and facility use by adults, this is no longer the case. It is another reason that adults, both residents a al nd CBMs, must be involved in the budget app process. Never reduce your budget by cutting 10% of everything. If you try, you sure had a sloppy budget to start with. Always cut 100% of cer- tain programs. Think about it for a while. 24 This is a trap we continually fall into without thinking - "Park Rec does not have enough money" falls on deaf ears of a higher authority trying to put 10 pounds of programs in a!5 pound bag, or to residents who have aro�elenough d buying aall their monthly p Y ntsan groceries. We use money as it is a verbal short cut. It saves us time to say we are $100 or $100,000 short of what we need. The trap is that we forget everyone is an expert on money. We all learned the decimal system in school, are aware of what money is, and feel confident about being an expert in a conversation about it. Park Rec seems to lose when we talk money. So, what do we do? Easy, talk benefits to the residents. This per- sonalizes the conversation. The Board has cut out the grade school soccer program for boys and girls due to lack of funds. What happens? The soccer parents unite with an issue and head for the mayor and council to state their case. These groups are normally most effective. When residents gather together and protest, elected or appointed officials get uncomfortable. When delegations of residents appear at meetings, usually something positive (for the residents objecting) comes out of the effort. Fees and Charges These started with expensive facilities like golf courses and swimming pools years ago and were accepted by the public. In recent years budgets have not kept '\ s- pace with inflation, so most Park Rec agen- cies have heavily :• `� > ,��. increased Fees and mac= Charges. Many places have Fees and Charges as more than 50% of their budget. it's a method of keeping the same 25