[Vision2020] House Bill 754

[Jeff Harkins]

In reference to Tom's query about HB 754, Shirley Ringo is quite 
correct.  This bill would provide for the expenditure side of the budget to 
be based on an index comprised of the  "average growth" in population and 
the change in the consumer price index.

On the surface, this bill seemingly would  provide a control on growth of 
the expenditure side of the budget.  However, in practice these kinds of 
controls are a poor substitute for good fiscal management.  Adoption of 
such bills is a clear admission that those in charge of managing budgets 
are not able to exercise the fiscal and fiduciary responsibilities of their 
positions.  Such practices result in a continuos growth in the budget - 
becomes what is usually referred to as a carry-forward budget with a 
relatively fixed increase each year.

On the positive side, it does tend to take some of the politics out of the 
budget battle - it is assumed that the budget will grow at a steady rate of 
say 4% each year.

On the negative side, it does mean that the revenue side must also increase 
at the same rate each year.

Frankly, I don't think it is a very good way to proceed ... but then we 
might not need the legislature to meet each year on the budget - it might 
be possible to have them meet every three or four years .......... maybe it 
is not such a bad idea after all.