As I posted the other day, Finley is already putting a bug into the ears of City council that with all the “new rooftops” (built by developers subsidized with YOUR tax dollars) we may need to grow the size of the City payroll, add more people and spend more money.
These costs of growth, of course, FAR outpace the property tax revenue they get from the new “rooftops” (houses) – a math fact that escapes the likes of Monroe and Talbert. Let’s just take a look at the fire and police departments, because Finley referenced them in his little speech on Monday.
The City has grown in population roughly 22% since the 2008/2009 budget was approved. Let’s see how much the budget has grown during that time.
Police Salary and Benefits 2008/2009: $1.42 million
Police TOTAL Department Expenses 2008/2009: $1.723 million
Police Salary and Benefits 2020/2021: $2.36 million (INCREASE of 66% – triple the rate of population growth)
Police TOTAL Department Expenses 2020/2021: $3.143 million (INCREASE of 80% – almost quadruple the rate of population growth)
Now, I am a law and order kind of guy – NOT an idiotic “defund the police” guy. Just like the U.S. military at the federal level, law enforcement is one of the main functions of any government since it is nearly impossible to have those things provided by the private sector (see: free rider problem).
BUT, also like the U.S. military, just because it is an important and legitimate function of government doesn’t mean you write blank checks and never say “no” to exorbitant spending every now and then to keep things under control. Seems to me, the cost of those services should move roughly in tandem with population growth.
I have no clue if we just have a lot more officers now than we did back then or if we have the same number and they are just paid a lot more. I have no way to tell that as the “salary and benefits” line item is not broken down further.
What IS certain from these numbers, is that the rate of growth in EXPENSES is FAR outstripping population growth…Finley’s “rooftops” he was speaking of. So for him to point at a bunch of “new rooftops” and draw the conclusion that we obviously need to hire more people is completely disingenuous. We’ve been increasing spending all along – apparently a bit more than we should have.
Let’s do it for the Fire Department as well:
Fire Salary and Benefits 2008/2009: $547,000
Fire TOTAL Department Expenses 2008/2009: $700,000
Fire Salary and Benefits 2020/2021: $1.234 million (over 125% increase)
Fire TOTAL Department Expenses 2020/2021: $1.818 million (over 150% increase)
Oops. Spending has been increasing there FAR more than population growth at the fire department as well! Yet Finley is already prepping us for “MORE!!”.
How about the TOTAL cost of City government over the last 10 years? Population has grown about 20% over that time period. What do the budget numbers look like for the entire City?
This represents an INCREASE of 62% over 10 years – TRIPLE the rate of population growth.
Bottom line is that City council needs to take everything Finley tells them with a grain of salt. This is a guy who has been caught lying more than once [see: ‘Spinley’ deGraffenried] and who has also been caught wasting piles of money more than once as well (Azbell and the $180,000 pre-fab bathroom come to mind immediately).
Do your own research. Go through the old budgets. Search the old Dispatch archives. Perhaps look at OTHER cities our size and see how large their police and fire departments are – so you can tell if we are WAY out of line or not. Maybe see what percentage of the overall budget these departments make up and if THAT is normal for a town our size.
Common sense stuff.
Remember, Finley is a well-paid bureaucrat. Well-paid bureaucrats are always looking to increase the size of their little fiefdom. Same goes for every department head. It is the natural inclination of government to grow itself and suck up more and more resources. They put the taxpayer LAST. It is the job of City council to look out for the taxpayer and ask the tough questions Finley was never asked by the last administration.