WHAT, ME WORRY?
I’m in a philosophical mood this week.
Buyer beware.
Memorial Day plays into it. Certainly, lip service is paid to vets these days. But talk is cheap. Deep down, I think people are self-involved and care less than they pretend to.
But also, to circle back to the Orwell biography I’ve been reading … I then had to detour into re-reading “1984” again before I continued with the bio, because so much of the bio alludes to the masterwork.
And I’ll have more to say about it, but in brief, “1984” is fundamentally not so much about Big Brother and the Thought Police as it is about people letting you down. Like, everyone letting you down. Especially and heart-wrenchingly, letting down yourself and the other person you care about most.
There’s a reason people allude to “1984” but don’t read it – because truth is brutal.
Oh right. The news. My sacrifice for the week was listening to the recording of the four-hour Mono County budget hearing held May 16.
I had to listen to it in one-hour chunks to get through it. Naps and ice cream in between.
I recall that when Mike Bodine used to work here – he would conscientiously sit through the budget hearings. Bodine, tortured poet and a quite decent human being. He’s dead now, so I’m told.
More folks are dying now than I can keep track of. Byron Walters. I remember him for his sprite-like mind. The expressiveness of his eyes. A live wire. Always something to say.
Back to the hearing … and Klusmire’s column on page 21 dovetails nicely. There’s always a lag time between fiscal reality and government reality.
The state’s running huge deficits, the county budget relies on 40% of its funding from the state, and somehow the spigot is always supposed to turn to the left versus turn to the right.
Over the past three years, employee salaries and benefits have soared 27%, from approximately $44 million to $56 million.
Secured property tax over the same period has increased by $5 million.
County Transient Occupancy Tax revenue by approximately $700,000.
Interestingly, the “gap” in projected General Fund expenditures and revenues for 2024-2025 is $5.8 million.
The gap between wages and revenues in the above cited categories is roughly the same – $6.3 million.
Maybe the county budget team should take some direction from Commander ‘Stinger’ Jordan in Top Gun. “Your ego’s writing checks your body can’t cash.”
Now I get it in the sense that the cost-of-living around here is absurd and you’d rather pay your local employees versus trim staff and send the money out-of-town to a bunch of consultants, but … consider this line from the staff report.
“The significant increase in salaries and benefits is due to the addition of new positions from last year’s budget hearing that were only funded for a portion of the year in 2023-2024 as well as implementing the MCPE MOU and the management and class study equating to a 12% increase in the 2024-2025 budget.”
*Translation: We were fat and happy last year and hired a whole bunch of folks – geez, maybe when we hire we should be realistic about what it will cost to carry that person, in good times and bad.
Community Development alone saw its department salaries and benefits increase more than $700,000.
The reason given: Workers compensation insurance and general liability.
Board Chairman John Peters: Have we considered shopping our carrier?
Acting “Chief People Officer” Jay Sloane: We did. Twice. This is the best deal out there.
Liability insurance for EMS services jumped 49%.
But EMS is interesting in that the caseload is 75% non-resident but the department is half paid for via the General Fund and half paid for via fee revenue.
Supervisor Bob Gardner suggested we need to look hard at raising the fee structure so non-residents pay their fair share.
An idea floated was that MMSA should incorporate EMS insurance into its pass structure, which is clever, but a non-starter, because I’m sure MMSA doesn’t wish to advertise the fact that skiing is dangerous and injury is inevitable.
The same way you can’t advertise the reality of “1984” – grim scenes of torture and the weakness of man. No wonder they’ve never turned it into a decent movie.
