Guest opinion

Citizens, government both needed to address budget
At the end of America’s iconic motion picture, Gone with the
Wind, Scarlett O’Hara refuses to accept defeat and expresses her
high hopes for a better future in six unforgettable words,
”
After all… tomorrow is another day.
”
That is a moving moment, but there was no indication that
Scarlett was going to change her ways, so she likely had a lot of
very rough tomorrows.
Citizens, government both needed to address budget

By Marty Richman,

Hollister resident

At the end of America’s iconic motion picture, Gone with the Wind, Scarlett O’Hara refuses to accept defeat and expresses her high hopes for a better future in six unforgettable words, “After all… tomorrow is another day.” That is a moving moment, but there was no indication that Scarlett was going to change her ways, so she likely had a lot of very rough tomorrows.

I love movies; however, real life can be even more instructive than Hollywood; therefore, I’m wondering why so many citizens and politicians in Hollister believe we can just keep doing things the same old way and expect that, somehow, the results will change.  One wag called that idea, “the definition of modern madness.”  What I am talking about is the filling and emptying of the public purse.

First, advice for those waiting to be saved by promises of impact fees, forget it, your ship is not coming in. Legally, impact fees are for the capital expenses related to development. They are to build firehouses or police cars, not to pay firefighters or police officers. Impact fees cannot be used for services or long-term operations and maintenance. Once that is understood, it becomes obvious that impact fees cannot relieve the city’s operating budget crunch.

The basic problem is the skyrocketing costs of public services, operations and maintenance and the majority of that, in most jurisdictions, are personnel costs.  According to a recent article in the San Jose Mercury News, San Jose has a $16 million current budget deficit mostly in personnel costs. They also need an additional $163 million for new, unfunded, requirements, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. When you add in the retirement benefits, the costs get truly staggering. Someday all those deficit chickens must come home to roost.      

To remain effective and solvent, ongoing and future costs of government must be both adequately funded and tightly controlled. The citizens are responsible for the former, the city government for the latter, and neither party is doing a good job. Both groups will have to change their ways if we are going to survive as a viable community.

 The citizens can change by approving, at the earliest opportunity, a new version of the failed Measure R, the proposed 1% sales tax increase. Although I dislike all taxes, I believed at the time, and still believe, that local sales taxes with protections are the lesser of the tax evils. The two protections in former Measure R were the 5-year sunset provision and the Citizens Oversight Committee, these are critical for my support.

Another way citizens can change is to stop asking government to provide ever-expanding services at no cost. Services are expensive and paying reasonable user fees makes you appreciate and share in those costs. It’s the same idea behind insurance deductibles, “freebies” are always overused. It’s also a litmus test; if the public will not chip in to use a service then it obviously has no value to them. 

Now to address the other side of the coin –government’s responsibility to change. It is high time the City Council “took the pledge” to control spending and watch public funds as if they were their own and not just when they are totally broke. When they are almost broke (as they are now) they have no choice and that is one reason the citizens are keeping them that way.

 The comment, “it’s only a few pennies a day” is not acceptable and should be banned from their lexicon. The pennies add up to nickels and dimes, and those add up to dollars. For the citizens it’s not what you make, it’s what you get to keep that really counts. At the end of the month, all those outgoing dollars leave them strapped. The council needs to be ferocious about holding down costs, especially personnel costs. They should be looking for innovative and economic solutions instead of just doing the same old thing the same old way and getting the same old results.

For the citizens and the government added funding and cost control would be much more effective than just hoping for a better tomorrow.