Alf was on the right track
All this talk and media comment about "the budget shortfall" is a bunch of baloney. It isn't a shortage of cash that's causing problems, it's overspending.
Alf Landon was a great governor back in the early 30s. He put Kansas on the cash-basis law. Units of government couldn't budget more cash than they had coming in. They were not allowed to spend more than they were going to receive. They had to operate in the black.
Government units today get around Alf's sensible rule by allowing for "no fund" warrants, issuing bonds, or leasing equipment. It's all a subterfuge.
Talk to your state representative, county commissioner, school board member, or city council member. Tell them you want to follow Alf's thinking.
They'll no doubt proceed as usual, adopting a budget that spends more dollars than last year. Look at the bucks in the budget that's published, not the mill levy. They hide the gross expenditure by increasing the appraisal on your property, raising taxes, or even worse, adopting new taxes.
If they follow that same old procedure, protest! Let them know you're getting tired of it.
The time has come for people to wake up, insist on careful control of government spending. There isn't a department in the city, school, county, or state that couldn't reduce expenditures by being more efficient, cutting back on inflated staffing, and living within what's available instead of what they want.
Read those figures in your local newspaper. They are printed in the annual budgets and explained in news stories in this newspaper. If you pay attention, and take action, you'll soon save much more than the price of a subscription.
