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Let middle schooler fix county budget?

By Letter to the editor
Published: February 19, 2009

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Editor:

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand the simplicity of balancing the county budget. A sixth grader at Wetsel Middle School can do this no-brainer.

As one who monitored about $52 million of taxpayer money, here’s how you do it (how we did it 1982-1984):

If the total county budget shortfall is 10 percent, then all departments, offices and so on must all take a 10 percent cut in their next-year expenditures. Simply put, department heads/offices must work with 90 percent in the next budget year; as in “even Steven” – everyone! No favorites folks! Department heads: Cry a river, build a bridge and get over it.

Futhermore, this simple solution takes all the in-fighting and questionable politics, as well as citizen-griping, out of the equation. It also effectively prevents “axe grinding” by any members of the board of supervisors bent on punishing or taking retribution against any specific department of the Madison County government. We have a “new supervisor crew” on board and they need to get the ship back on course, because, mark my words today, things are going to get exponentially worse very soon.

Recently, I saw one county supervisor on TV saying something to the effect “we have to decide where to cut.” No, no, folks, that’s the “politician’s way” of baffling the county’s slow people, and at the same time protecting political scared cows; or just maybe penalizing enemies. The last three years tells me the latter aspect could be a real possibility.

Come on folks, wake up. It’s a sixth or seventh grade math solution.

Al Cuppett
Madison County