[geeks] geeks Digest, Vol 86, Issue 11

[Jonathan Patschke]

On Wed, 20 Jan 2010, Lionel Peterson wrote:

> You are conflating two different things...
>
> Why should a taxpayer in 2008 fund a rainy day fund that will be used in
> another year?

I find your question rather amusing: "Why should a taxpayer..."  They're
already STEALING from you.  You're implying that a "taxpayer" has some
rights in the face of an organization that can send people bills for
arbitrary amounts regardless of the efficacy or actuality of services
rendered, and back those bills up with violence!

In order to answer your question, let me give you a concrete example from
back when I worked for a state agency.  My agency had need for a large
quantity of some supply, but did not need it for several months (a month
into the next accounting period).  The vendor offered a per-unit price
break in a quantity beyond what we could afford with the remaining budget
in the current accounting period.  In order to keep the budget the same,
we had to buy what we could afford and buy the rest later.  If we were
permitted to save money across accounting periods, we could've stashed the
cash until the next budget distribution, bought the larger quantity all at
once, and ended up spending LESS money overall.

The price break was significant.  I don't recall the details, but it was
in the 15-20% range.

There was a workaround, but it literally required an act of the state
legislature for every exception per accounting period per agency.

> The money collected in 2008 should be spent to benefit the community
> that paid the taxes.

You're assuming the money is spent in a beneficial way.

> The phenomenon of spending every dime in this year's budget to assure
> similar (or better) funding the following year is not unique to public
> school systems.

No, but it's a great indicator of lazy capital management.

-- 
Jonathan Patschke  ) "Science is what we understand well enough to explain
Elgin, TX         (   to a computer.  Art is everything else we do."
USA                )                                    --Dr. Donald Knuth