I don’t have time to do this post justice, but I can’t see not blogging about this latest absurdity today. The county budget hasn’t made any headlines or gotten much attention, but the County Executive Joe Parisi spent every single dollar he could, right up to the state imposed levy limits. Typically in the past county executives have left money in the budget for the county board, sometimes they left $10,000 per supervisor, sometimes they just left an amount, but they left something. To exacerbate the situation, because of the governors race, Joe Parisi and other Democratic Party insiders refused to let the county board challenge the levy limit through a referendum, letting the voters decide (the horror! voters decide? not the elected officials?!) if they would pay more taxes above the levy limit. This leaves the county board with not much to work with, they have to cut programs in order to spend any money.
I think the best way to do this is to do it from the perspective of my day job. In my day job, when it comes to the budget, I have both an advantage because I understand the system more than most, and a disadvantage because some people just hate me and have personal vendettas.
BACKGROUND
Last week in August – This is when the department budget requests come out. These requests are sent to the County Executive and they put together the budget for the county board to consider/pass/modify. When the department budget comes out is often the first time I, as an Executive Director of a funded agency, will find out if our budget will be cut. It happens a day or two before the Labor Day weekend. Often the staff don’t talk to you in advance, they don’t give you a heads up if they say, might be cutting your budget in its entirety like happened a year ago to the Tenant Resource Center. They just do it, you have to go look it up on their website and try to decipher what the document means.
Unreadable budget – Play along with me for a moment, check out the Human Services Budget, where the TRC is funded. Where would you start to look to find out if the Tenant Resource Center is funded? I’ll get you started and find the page for you. Did you find it? Now open it. When the budget comes out it is just the line item spreadsheet that is available, not the budget decision sheet. When you opened the line item spreadsheet, did you find the Tenant Resource Center anywhere? I have an advantage in finding it, because I know how much funding we get – $95,000. So I can find it a little more easier. Otherwise, you might figure it out by looking in the second column. But honestly, I can’t tell you what all those line items mean – keep your eye on the first item, as its going to be recommended to be cut by the Health and Human Needs Committee – which agency is that?
So, TRC passed the first test! We’re in the departmental budget! Whew! Hurdle one.
TRC passed the second hurdle too – we are not a budget decision item. Whew! Good to go? Oh no! No need to lobby the County Executive to get in their budget because the department cut us, so you can take a temporary rest, but must remain vigilant.
1st or 2nd week in September – So, the first or second week in September, right after Labor Day, there is a hearing. Do you start rallying the troops to get there, or do you wait? It’s always a question. Hard to organize around the Labor Day Weekend. Luckily they started holding it the second week instead of the first week after the holiday so its not during the first week of school for parents who might need to show up and work to defend their agencies funding.
Here’s a question, if you’re in the budget, what do you do? Show up and thank them? They get annoyed with public speakers who waste their time, so probably not. Do you show up and ask for what you really need – not a 13th or 14th or 15th year of flat or reduced funding? No, you’ll just get lectured by someone about how hard their job is and there just is no money and they’re doing the best they can . . . blah, blah, blah. Do you have clients show up and talk about how great your agency is and why the services you provide are important to them? No, they’ll get lectured about how they don’t understand that the agency was funded and are discouraged from speaking. Telling people that they don’t need to say what others have said, that they can just register and not speak, that there is plenty of time to speak later, blah, blah, blah.
In years where TRC was cut, we were told we couldn’t have more than 10 speakers, in fact, they wanted no more than 10 speakers for the whole division, not just housing and homelessness but all of Economic Assistance and Work Services. They made it really clear that any more speakers than that was too many. And then we got chastised for having 10 speakers and not leaving room for others to speak. But they did let people speak anyways.
Well, I didn’t show up this year, no need for a condescending, annoying lecture and besides, it might be best just to lay low and hope they forgot about you, even though you know you need more money – how can you give staff raises, pay for increased costs, etc.? Nevermind, sit down and shut up and be happy.
First week in October – This is when the County Executive’s budget comes out. Well, the press release with the spin comes out. Eventually they will get the actual budget recommendations on line. So, scramble again! The County Executive’s office won’t contact you if they cut you either. We got cut by Kathleen Falk one year, yeah, the whole agency cut. By the time you pass, or don’t pass, this hurdle, then you move on to the county board members. In my case, the Health and Human Needs members are the most important. Each of the committees has a different process.
Whew! This year, we passed that hurdle too! 2/3 of the way there! But you can’t rest now either! The county board, the third piece of the puzzle has yet to act.
Messed up lack of schedule – So the schedule goes like this. They’ll pass the budget when they pass the budget. And don’t ask Sharon Corrigan about when the schedule, such as it is, will be out in September. You’ll get a lecture about how its not October yet and you’ll get it when she’s good and ready to give it to you. She never sent it to me. They didn’t even send it out with a press release, that is the only way they communicate with the public. It is on line, but don’t hold your breath, its minimally helpful.
Monday’s public hearing – Apparently, I think the idea is that if there are amendments to the budget, they would be out by now, but there were none attached to the agenda for the meeting. The only amendments I saw as of yesterday were from the Executive Committee and EANR (Environment, Ag and Natural Resources), which means that most of them are not out, but this is a chance to have a hearing on the County Executive’s budget, and the only time you can address the full county board on the budget, before they have made their amendments. (More amendments here, but when I’m writing there aren’t any up yet and I don’t know why you have to look so many places to find this info.)
Anyways, at this point, if you’re an agency, you still have no clue if some county board member might decide to cut your budget. Even tho we’ve had three opportunities to speak, if your budget hasn’t been cut, well, then why would you bother showing up – cuz they don’t like it. Even if you are struggling and need more money for increased costs, best to keep quiet and lay low.
Committee process – So, the committee process has started. Each committee likely does things a little different and may do it differently from year to year. I don’t know how people are supposed to follow this process. This year, Health and Human Needs (HHN) got a presentation on the budget at one meeting and then made amendments and voted last night. Bing. Bang. Boom. Outta here. See below for a brief recap of what happened.
HEALTH AND HUMAN NEEDS MEETING
So, again, from my perspective, an Executive Director of an agency that might be impacted by these decisions. Three public hearings have gone by, we’re still in the budget. No indication that we won’t be . . . until yesterday afternoon. First, a staff member tells me that they heard that we might be cut. Ok, I know I was on vacation for a whole 5 days, but what the hell. What did I miss? The super secret not so secret Sunday night meeting that everyone knows about but we aren’t allowed to talk about – where the real decisions get made. Well, its just a rumor, but it made me sit up and take notice, I thought we were in the clear. So, I talk to a supervisor and I’m told we might be in the clear, but they are going after unmandated services and you just never know. So, I was planning on going to the Council meeting where they talked about their budget priorities, but I had to go to Health and Human Needs instead. The committee does some routine things, I don’t register because I don’t know what the process is going to be.
Going into the meeting I understand that there are several possibilities of how this might go. Ideally, we get there and they hand out the amendments, they discuss the amendments, give people a chance to testify, and then wait to vote and take further testimony (no silly rules that if you talked one time you can’t talk the next time) and then they vote at the next meeting, with minimal amendments to fix things or respond to testimony. Yeah, that didn’t happen.
When I walked in I asked a staff person where the amendments were, since they weren’t attached to the agenda in legistar. There weren’t any. Ok, its going to be one of those kind of meetings, awesome.
I’m sitting in back, wondering if I should testify because they have a silly rule that if you testify at one meeting, they won’t let you testify at the next meeting on the same thing – remember how I told you they hate public testimony, they have rules to prevent it. So, I get up and fill out the sheet and Nick Zweifel comes up and tries to take it, I tell him that I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to speak. He says, ok, but Heidi’s amendment is capital, not operating. I explain that I’m here on the operating budget, he looks at me quizzically. I figure this is a good sign, but I’m not sure. I sit down with my slip, hoping to hear that there will be another meeting where they will take input on the amendments. Silly me.
I’m running around the building, audio taping the council, trying to pay attention to Health and Human Needs, wishing I had installed a recording app on my new phone and trying to keep up with what is going on. They get to the budget items and they let Carousel Bayrd, who was appropriately and nicely apologetic for it, go first because she has another meeting to go to. She has a capital budget amendment for $300,000 for co-op housing. She presents on it, they don’t let the public speak even tho this is the first we heard about it, Jeremy Levin, the chair, moves to approve the amendment and they pass it! WHOA. I hand in my slip to speak, cuz its going to be one of those kind of meetings.
They go back to the operating budget, a few people testify, a few people who will benefit from the amendments, which I will find out later, cuz I haven’t seen the amendments yet. I testify. Jeremy Levin announces that I am both opposed and in support of the budget and they laugh. Yeah, not funny. I get up and say I don’t know if I”m in support or opposed because I don’t know what you are proposing but I have heard that there may be some cut and on behalf of me and other nonprofits, I don’t think that is fair, we got no forewarning and typically there is great deference shown to the committee that makes the amendments and so it will probably be a done deal after this meeting and I think we deserve to know what the amendments are. Then I brace my self for the lecture.
Indeed, Jeremy Levin abides. I get a lecture about how many opportunities we have had to give input and how many more we will have. In fact, there is one more, at Personnel and Finance, you can’t speak at the county board meeting when they discuss the budget. Thank you for schooling me. I just stood there and looked him in the eye. It’s amazing to me when people can say bald faced lies and warped truths and feel no shame. It’s a skill I clearly don’t have. And don’t want to have. So, this is how this is going to be. No hand outs, no testimony on the unseen amendments. Great. I start counting the votes, can the supervisors stop this by tabling the items to the next meeting. Let’s find out.
Now I’m just being cruel to give people hope for a transparent and fair process, right? No way they don’t have the votes or they wouldn’t be so bold. First amendment comes up, they cut 2 programs to fund another program. Since I’m doing this from memory, I’m not going to try to remember everything. Point is, Heidi Wegleitner, Ronn Ferrell and Jenni Dye (what a combination!) ask questions about if the agencies being cut know about the cuts, they do not. They try to table the amendment to have a fair process, that fails. Lectures about how much input people have been able to give are given again by Jeremy Levin and he’s backed up by his lap dog Nick Zwiefel who says “this has never been a problem before” (yeah, not for them). Ferrell attempts to tell them how it has been done in the past, so does Heidi, but they press on cuz, you know, they have the votes, but not before they whine about how its going to be a long night if they object to every amendment on these grounds. Sigh, yeah, one of those kind of nights. Wegleitner, Ferrell and Dye keep trying, but more amendments are passed cutting some agencies in favor of other agencies, all of those being cut with no notice and no opportunity to speak. I’m holding my breath waiting for TRC to be cut, hoping it won’t be, but not quite sure what to think. At one point, after one of the amendments passed, Levin says “Well, we got away with that one”. Seriously? Yeah, seriously. I have it on audio. I think it was at that point I thought I’ll be the campaign manager of whomever runs against him.
Anyways, TRC made it through unscathed, but I can’t say the same for several other programs. When the amendments come out, you can see the details. They should be here, but I don’t see them yet. They might also show up here? Ok, honestly, I have no idea where they will show up? I’m thoroughly confused and if I ask supervisors, at least the ones I know the best, they can’t answer my questions either.
So, whenever they deign to give us the amendments we can see the details of what they did and then have one shot at defending any of the programs being cut. That one chance will be at the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting. Of course, they might still have some amendments in their pocket that they aren’t telling us about that they will spring that evening and then we will never get to testify to those.
Awesome system, eh? As happy as I am that TRC wasn’t targeted as suspected, I’m even more pissed off that they can justify this process with a straight face and so indignantly. What is wrong with our liberal county board, as my friend Ed said at the meeting “they act like the state legislature”. Should everyone who supports anything in the budget show up to the personnel and finance committee just in case? Seems silly, but perhaps prudent? Reform anyone? How can we make it happen, these liberals seem so defensive and angry and snotty I’m not sure we can break through it, I sure hope to see some opponents next election, cuz they need a challenge to this broken insiders only system!
