State, local governments should encourage citizen participation
February 04, 2009
The [Harrisburg] Patriot-News
Everyone knows this is going to be a tough budget year.
A lot of difficult conversations will take place around conference room tables at township, borough and school board meetings on what to cut, where to shift funds and, in many cases, how to keep tax hikes to a minimum.
At Annville-Cleona School District the board members decided to extend the budget discussion beyond that table and at the same time perhaps do away with the Monday morning quarterbacking that residents are sometimes forced to do after the vote on a final spending plan.
Board members are asking the public to take a hard look at the budget, which it posted at the administrative building. The board said it wanted to get thoughts from residents on the spending plan, and as one director put it, "to help us ax it."
This will be a tough year for Annville-Cleona. The business manager is talking about a 6.6 percent tax increase and no money left in the general reserve fund by the end of '09.
No public official wants to make these kinds of tough decisions, but in many cases boards don't go out of their way to ask for input from residents. Some feel that is why they were elected, to make those tough decisions, and others know it can be a more difficult exercise when residents -- with all sorts of opinions about what to fund and what to cut -- get involved in the process.
But with the hard economic times there seems to be a trend across the country of getting more taxpayers involved in the process. Some local governments are holding special "community input meetings" before they make the final decision on their 2009-10 budget.
That is why the school board should be commended for throwing aside the fact that it could be a much longer process -- or at the very least longer meetings -- and asking taxpayers to chime in.
Governor Ed Rendell will introduce his budget today, which is expected to be chock-full with funding cuts.
He and the Legislature should also consider this idea. While getting public input on a statewide level is much more challenging, it would, nonetheless, be valuable as officials grapple with cutting valuable programs. The legislature will spend weeks holding public hearing with each state department, grilling them on their budgets. Why not then also spend time hearing from their constituents?
The governor also should get back on his bus and travel around the state hearing from everyone from Erie and Wayne to Altoona and Chambersburg. He might better understand why a program should or should not be trimmed after such a tour.
Government officials need to have people of all different perspectives involved in making decisions about spending cuts and funding boosts. And this is increasingly important in the new age of openness.
All public budgets that are not already online should be and all residents should be asked to participate in this critical process.
Everyone knows this is going to be a tough budget year.
A lot of difficult conversations will take place around conference room tables at township, borough and school board meetings on what to cut, where to shift funds and, in many cases, how to keep tax hikes to a minimum.
At Annville-Cleona School District the board members decided to extend the budget discussion beyond that table and at the same time perhaps do away with the Monday morning quarterbacking that residents are sometimes forced to do after the vote on a final spending plan.
Board members are asking the public to take a hard look at the budget, which it posted at the administrative building. The board said it wanted to get thoughts from residents on the spending plan, and as one director put it, "to help us ax it."
This will be a tough year for Annville-Cleona. The business manager is talking about a 6.6 percent tax increase and no money left in the general reserve fund by the end of '09.
No public official wants to make these kinds of tough decisions, but in many cases boards don't go out of their way to ask for input from residents. Some feel that is why they were elected, to make those tough decisions, and others know it can be a more difficult exercise when residents -- with all sorts of opinions about what to fund and what to cut -- get involved in the process.
But with the hard economic times there seems to be a trend across the country of getting more taxpayers involved in the process. Some local governments are holding special "community input meetings" before they make the final decision on their 2009-10 budget.
That is why the school board should be commended for throwing aside the fact that it could be a much longer process -- or at the very least longer meetings -- and asking taxpayers to chime in.
Governor Ed Rendell will introduce his budget today, which is expected to be chock-full with funding cuts.
He and the Legislature should also consider this idea. While getting public input on a statewide level is much more challenging, it would, nonetheless, be valuable as officials grapple with cutting valuable programs. The legislature will spend weeks holding public hearing with each state department, grilling them on their budgets. Why not then also spend time hearing from their constituents?
The governor also should get back on his bus and travel around the state hearing from everyone from Erie and Wayne to Altoona and Chambersburg. He might better understand why a program should or should not be trimmed after such a tour.
Government officials need to have people of all different perspectives involved in making decisions about spending cuts and funding boosts. And this is increasingly important in the new age of openness.
All public budgets that are not already online should be and all residents should be asked to participate in this critical process.
