Local Government: Our pitiful, helpless giant
Sonoma County’s proposed 2106 budget is $1.4 billion, the City of Sonoma’s $31.6 million. Revenues from Tourism are at an all-time high. In 2014, our regional wine industry was estimated to generate $13.4 billion in economic impacts. Having recovered from the housing price slump, the median home price in Sonoma County is now over $530,000, $637,000 in the the City of Sonoma. And yet, our government Giant’s pathetic lament remains unchanged: “We’d like to do more, but we just don’t have the money.”
Our roads are filled with potholes; the homeless population is swelling; income inequality is greater than ever; rents are stratospheric; vacation rentals are hollowing out neighborhoods; independent hospitals sit on the cusp of insolvency; and, as gentrification rushes forward our lowest paid workers slide deeper into poverty.
Have you ever read the county Giant’s 2016 budget? Of course not; it’s a masterfully crafted, 347-page bean-counter’s magnum opus. Included therein, as an example, is $15,903,518 for “Technical Services” within the Information Management Services’ overall budget of $40,464,474. Wade through this:
“Budgeted expenditures are estimated to increase by $2.5 million or 18.6%. The change reflects increases in salary and benefits of $192,000, the addition of 2.0 FTE in the Sonoma County Public Safety Consortium (SCPSC) for $330,000 to meet the new staffing requirements contracted with ISD in the service level agreement approved by the SCPSC Board, and a position change from an Information Technology Analyst II to III of $18,000 for subject matter lead in technology procurement. Additionally, operating expense increases include direct pass‐through costs to County departments for hardware and software costs of $250,000, increased mobile technology utilization including device and monthly service costs for air cards and mobile phones of $400,000, anticipated as‐needed professional services of $460,000 to assist with enterprise projects and technical needs, and software licensing of $450,000 to support new requirements for both enterprise and user level licenses.”
Straight-forward information from a bean-counter, but no details about the beans; for example, “professional services.” Who is engaged to do what for how much? This is derisively called “getting caught in the weeds” but it’s actually where budget savings are found; its absence makes the magnum opus impenetrable.
While the county says it doesn’t have any money for roads, housing, etc, etc., because of competing demands on our tax money, it’s hard to tell if they’re telling the truth, or if they even know what the truth is, about how many beans there are, and where it’s all going. We need more transparency and plain talk about what’s coming in and what’s going out, how much and — specifically — to who for what. Of course, like all giants, our Giant thinks large and nearly always pays the very highest price for everything.
Thomas Hobbes, the British 15th Century thinker who was instrumental in framing our western view of government, notoriously titled his thickest book about the subject “Leviathan”, in homage to the heft and girth of the government giant. Hobbes viewed government as central to the saving of mankind, salvation from a solitary life he otherwise famously characterized as “nasty, brutish and short.” Yet today our Giant of Salvation lumbers aimlessly across the landscape, satisfying itself by picking up scraps and crumbs of fee revenues and sales taxes like some impotent beggar.
Government waste? Well, we expect it. But we also expect some government largesse when times are good, which they most certainly are for the 1%. The Giant needs to act like one and do some big things for its poorer subjects, like affordable housing, living wages and basic health care. It’s either that or we’ll end up with Jack, the Giant Killer.
Sun Editorial Board
