Budget Day Budget Day!

I, apparently along with seven commissioners and a mayor (if I'm understanding the Spirit's blog on it correctly), missed the final budget hearing last week. I didn't get the memo that it had been moved from Thursday to Wednesday. They discussed law enforcement, the monster that along with the courts uses up seventy-six percent of operating costs according to budget mastermind Administrator Fred Russell. Mr. Russell, for whatever reason, did not discuss law enforcement when it was originally supposed to be discussed two weeks ago. So, the first hearing that promised to cover law enforcement, just didn't, and the meeting which actually did address it was moved up a day. Commissioner Bowles, one of the three commissioners who did make it to the hearing, told me he also almost missed it due to the quiet rescheduling.
What happened at this hard-to-get law enforcement budget discussion? Administrator Russell originally proposed a budget requiring a property tax increase of 1.588 mills and loads of cuts to public services. Mr. Russell said the cuts were regrettable and that the things being cut should not be cut but we are in such a terrible mess that it is unavoidable.
But, according to the Chronicle, last Wednesday, Sheriff Ronnie Strength saved us all from the scary property tax raises by granting his "blessing" to Mr. Russell's new (?,!) plan to make up for a 3.4 MILLION DOLLAR deficit by "adjusting expenses and revenues and throwing in $1 million from the reserve fund." Huh. So if that's Mr. Russell's budget idea, what was that hundred page thing we've all been looking at for the past month? Why was he saving his real plan for the very last meeting that no one went to?
Ok. Three and a half million dollars just got saved by adjusting expenses and revenues and using a million dollars of reserve funds. And where was that reserve fund when we needed it for public transportation and mosquito control and the battered women's shelter and health clinics? It was unavailable then, as I remember. It wouldn't be good management, as I remember. Well, now it's brilliant.
He has other amazing money-finding tricks. Here's one: move inmates out of Richmond County Correctional Institution and into Phinizy Road and Walton Way. That saves $780,000 a year. So why did we ever put inmates into RCCI? Was there a reason? If so, how is it ok to move them now? And if not, why did we ever do it the expensive way?
Here's another budget trick people may want to use at home: lowering fuel cost projections can save $723,000 a year! That's right, just assume things will be cheap and there's you a pile of money what you didn't have before. That is some high level outside-the-box city management thinking. Russell advises cutting public transportation by pretty much the same amount that was "saved" by adjusting fuel costs estimates and moving prisoners around. Why were those options not occurring to Mr. Russell then?
Oh, here's one more. "Projections for pay increases were also lowered by $343,120. Mr. Russell said he'd previously over-estimated the number of deputies due for raises." Oh. How is that? What is this man's job? How did he not know the correct number? And when did he learn it? Isn't Mr. Russell really kind of supposed to know these numbers? Isn't that very much his responsibility? Or did the sheriff's department supply the wrong numbers? As Sheriff Strength told me, "We're not in the studying business. We're in the locking-up business." What business is Fred Russell in?
Is this a political stunt or is this incompetence? It's worth watching either way. Go watch the commissioners vote this beauty in. I believe it's being voted on today, Tuesday November 18 at 2:00. Sure, you're supposed to be working then, but it'll be worth the afternoon off. Fred Russell will be drinking a Diet Coke and pacing around the room telling jokes like it's his party. Deke will be grunt-smiling. The commissioners will be confused. Augusta will be screwed. And you may get on TV!