It’s not exactly smaller government — call it slightly less government.
The city of Commerce voted Monday night to join the state government, county government and local school systems in implementing six furlough days through the rest of the fiscal year as a means of responding to revenue shortfalls.
The city estimates that the move will save about $100,000 in direct and indirect costs. But those costs also come with a price that includes some inconvenience to the public. Folks who show up at City Hall on Jan. 4, Feb. 19, March 12, April 5, May 28 or June 25 hoping to pay a bill, get information, make a complaint or get a pothole fixed, will be out of luck.
Hopefully, citizens will take note of the days when government will be closed and be understanding of the reason behind it. If city workers can live with the cut of a day’s pay each month, the taxpayers ought to be able to tolerate whatever inconvenience the furloughs cause in terms of service.
It will be interesting to see if the costs live up to expectations. Furloughs essentially require an employee to get the same amount of work done in one fewer days a month and for a day’s less pay. It’s not like closing city offices for a day reduces the amount of meters to be read, grass to be cut, repairs to be made, maintenance to be performed or inspections to be conducted. On the flipside, the economy has reduced the amount of work in some areas — there are very few construction projects to inspect or new utility services to be connected, for example.
Local governments, including schools, grew rapidly along with the population and local economy for more than a decade. Tax digests and utility sales increased (some more than others) during boom times and local governments were relatively flush with cash. Unfortunately, when the economy slumped, governments and school systems found themselves unable to maintain their boom-based budgets. Adjusting has been, is and will continue to be difficult.
Next year will undoubtedly see further trimming of local budgets. All those people who say they want smaller government should rejoice; the economy is doing what politicians could not.
