Politicians seem to be clueless on the word "prioritization"
The Democrats here in NH (and in DC) are taking the tact of "The Republicans are the Party of No!" as they increase spending, all but drunk on the absolute power to pass any spending and taxes they want. Pretty much, like teenagers who found Mom's credit card to be "live" on all of their 'Net shopping sites...WHeee!
Admittedly, most Republicans have shown to grudgingly gone along with much of it while Bush was in power (and only slowed down increase rates here in NH). A Pox on both.
Here in NH, we are "in the hole" big time as far as State spending is concerned. Don't you think that the fiscally appropriate thing to do would be prioritize things? You know, determine all the things that government should do (not everything you want it to, mind you) and then decide "here's the most important thing, and here's the second, and the third...." and when the things are listed and there's no more money, all of the rest of the stuff goes away. I'm on my town's Budget Committee - you can bet that's what I do when reviewing the budget. I can tell you that some departments believe that they are "more special" than the rest (like the Library) and deserve more - sorry, but its DPW for the streets, Police / Fire for safety, Town Clerk (somebody has to collect the money to pay for this stuff) and Schools; it rolls rapidly downhill from there...and yes, I believe most towns can live and exist well without Libraries and Parks N'Rec if they had to draw a line.
Drew Cline shows how the fine fiduciary folks in our State Legislator, who put us in this hole in the first place, haven't learned this lesson. Democrats believe that they can have it all - after all, it is somebody else's money (emphasis mine)!
$20,000 more for wildflowers
In the current two-year budget, the state spent $90,000 on the lilac program, which pays to plant wildflowers along state highways. Both the House and Senate budget proposals for 2010-11 raise that figure to $110,000.
Yes, during this recession, when we are told that the state is so strapped for cash that we have to close district courts and find entirely new sources of revenue, the state is increasing spending to plant wildflowers (which, by definition, grow naturally all over the state) by 22 percent.
Speaking of flowers over The Courts, Grant over at NH Watchdog fills us in some more of this stupidness (emphasis mine):
The Union Leader editorializes against spending priorities in the State Legislature, at a time when lawmakers say they are cutting back on non-essential services:
For instance, both the House and Senate budgets include $1.2 million over two years for "state arts development." Do legislators consider arts funding an essential state service? Both budgets also include more than $200,000 for that essential state function known as the New Hampshire Film Commission.
To put these numbers in context, consider that Gov. Lynch proposed saving $1.8 million a year by closing eight district courts. Legislators agreed to close four district courts, for a savings of about $1 million a year. Yet they chose to continue spending more than $1.4 million ($700,000 a year) on "state arts development" and the film commission. That funding could keep three, maybe four, district courts open or revert to the general fund to help avoid tax increases.
State Legislators, Governor! Grow up and be adults - stop acting like children with the credit card! Flowers and "art development" come AFTER you've taken care of the foundational items - that's what grownups do and what we expect of you. These are luxuries! Not Needs! Fund what is necessary, not what looks or feels nice.
Do you not know what "back to basics" mean? Don't you understand that the State is "broke"? And you want to spend more on flowers and movies? Sorry, I think the Courts are a necessity.
Comments
Posted by: mer | June 10, 2009 10:30 AM