Ron Amundson’s Political Blog

Egads, everyone dependent upon govt funding is having a bird, and THEIR program is an absolute must, and of course, for each dollar spent, more revenue is generated….. Sure

Granted, in some cases, spending a dollar now, will end up being revenue positive… in some cases, perhaps in under a year, in others, its a long term investment in the future. The problem is, there are only a limited number of dollars to go around, unless of course, we convince MN citizens to buy stuff like mad, and get 50%+ of our citizenry to put in 80 hour work weeks to make it happen. And yes, I am well aware there are those in the lower economic strata already doing 80+ hour work weeks just to survive, and they are not buying anything beyond necessities. If anything, tax revenue is likely to continue to drop short term, irrespective of whether tax rates are increased or decreased, long term wise, obviously things would be way different.

The end result, things will get cut in the short term, there really is no way around it… and the challenge of course is where to make the cuts. Granted, there is a ton of efficiency that could be wrung out of the system, pretty much in every arena. Thats a lot of savings right there, and likely it COULD happen without much of a change in the availability or quality of services. The difficulty is silos….

Each silo looks out for its own, and maybe it might look out for a cooperative partner. Ie the sheriffs dept wants the courts funded, so that small crimes can still be prosecuted, rather than just getting thrown out. Yet, the sheriffs dept obviously doesnt want to be subject to cuts either… Secondary ed doesnt want cuts to the university system, as they need to be able to continue their education to remain licensed… but they dont want their funding cut either.

The solution, these different silos need a way to communicate and work together. Ie, if the courts get fully funded, and the sheriffs dept has to take a 30% budget cut, perhaps the courts best not be funded at the level proposed. If the university system gets cut, so teachers have to travel 200 miles to continue their education requirements for licensing, perhaps they need to consider larger class sizes. Then ripple this through all the areas of govt, such that they see they do need to work together.

And working together, perhaps they can share ideas to save… imagine the pockets of great ideas in the multitude of county govt offices, that never get communicated to other counties, or sheriff depts or the university system. Or even get more radical… perhaps a resource is only at a 40% utilization in one area, perhaps the sheriffs dept, and the university end up sharing resources? Why not look at cross dept geographically, as well as functionally for sharing?

Granted, such proposals kill off power structures, and may require legislative changes… ie the handing of information is not standardized, and regulatory issues may preclude cross funtional sharing of resources… the solution is to change the regs, and make it happen. There are a multitude of ways to save with little damage to services rendered, except to fiefdoms and power structures. The question of course is, will the power brokers and silo owners be willing… or will they end up going down with their ship when the money runs out. It will be interesting.