A million reasons
to question government

A million here, a million there. Pretty soon it adds up to real money.

With apologies for scaling Everett Dirksen’s apocryphal quip to a local level, it’s a saying we all might do well to ponder, especially at this time of year.

The start of summer is when local governments begin looking at ever more expansive wish lists from employees and, to a lesser extent, constituents.

Part of why we journalists and the handful of others who closely watch local government frequently are tarred with a schtick of negativity is that we see this play out, year after expensive year, like being trapped in some fiscally endless “Groundhog Day.”

Faces on councils and commissions change, but the siren song of spending they follow merely shifts from one verse to the next as taxes and public debt inexorably mount.

Monday, we heard from county employees about almost imponderable amounts of new vehicles, new equipment, and new staffing they insist they need. Later that same day, we heard from Marion officials once again intent on adding to municipal debt without asking voters first.

Charter Ordinance 22 revisited

No, it wasn’t the same plan as Charter Ordinance 22, soundly rejected by voters two years ago. But at its core were the same debatable goals, the same dubious parentage, and the same demonic speed with which Charter 22 was adopted before voters wisely overturned it.

It isn’t that elected or even appointed officials pushing such ideas are evil. Most seem pure-hearted and admirably motivated to do the best they can for their community.

Still, in government these days, there’s an entire army of supposedly supportive helpers — from government leagues to accountants to legal counsels to bond brokers — ever at the ready to cash in on costly services they can provide to allegedly help local governments while simultaneously helping themselves to big paydays for doing so.

If Dwight Eisenhower had been a city council member or county commissioner instead of a five-star general and president, he doubtlessly would have given these hangers-on a name as memorable as the military-industrial complex he warned of.

In this case, Marion opted to accept advice from hangers-on to pursue certain emergency provisions of state law to allow $1 million in borrowing without having a bond election.

State law is clear about most borrowing. It requires that municipalities conduct elections before allowing city councils to incur debts that will still be owed years after council members have been replaced by others.

But the law also has emergency proceedings. If a municipality’s drinking water or main thoroughfares are damaged — say by a tornado or some other disaster — the somewhat time-consuming process of making sure voters approve borrowing can be skipped.

Loopholes can throw you for a loop

It’s a good idea, but like so many good ideas, it’s also a loophole. By voting two weeks ago to declare Roosevelt and Coble Sts. main trafficways, the city plunged headlong into the loophole but may not have taken time to consider its implications.

Monday, after receiving proposals for $1 million in borrowing just three days earlier, council members were rushed into approving that borrowing because, they were told, the city already was on a list seeking the money, and June 10, just eight days away, was the deadline for staying on the list.

It all sounds a bit like a used car salesman’s line about how you have to make up your mind today because someone else is looking at the car you want to buy.

Borrowing is no big deal, officials were told. Yes, you’ll have to pay interest on the money you borrow, but if you saved up to pay for the improvements with cash on hand, prices would increase as much as the interest you’d be paying. And you already have the money to pay off the borrowing.

Each year, the city appropriates between $100,000 and $150,000 — the equivalent of maybe 10 mills in property taxes — to rebuild a single block in concrete. That money will just about cover interest and principal for 10 years. So, you can do a whole bunch of work now — in time for upcoming elections — while following J. Wellington Wimpy’s adage of offering to pay tomorrow for a hamburger today.

The problem is that the loophole has some restrictions. One of them is obvious. If the $100,000 to $150,000 being set aside each year is to be devoted to repaying the loan, it won’t be available to do any other streets.

And the emergency loophole allowing work to be done on Roosevelt and Coble Sts. includes a pretty clear proviso that the borrowed money can’t be shifted to other priorities. Other bad streets in town — including those in the valley, mentioned by one council member during the same meeting — will now have to wait at least 10 years unless the city finds a new source of money to pay for repairs.

What else could we do?

It could, but that would require making hard choices.

For the past 2 years, Marion has had mainly two, sometimes three, and rarely four police officers. It wants to hire a fifth, so it will have as many officers as Hillsboro, which has roughly 800 more residents.

Has crime soared in the past 2½ years? Have you felt a lack of police presence? Maybe we don’t need a fifth officer, a fifth patrol car (as if our police, unlike those in big cities, can’t share), a fifth service weapon, a fifth badge, a fifth set of tactical gear, a fifth lengthy training program, and a fifth Police and Fire pension that adds nearly 25% to each officer’s pay, which recently was adjusted to match Hillsboro’s even though Hillsboro contributes only 9% to pension funds.

In the past year, Marion has doubled spending on its city administrator position. Whether that’s been an investment or just more overhead is an unresolved question, as is the question of whether the county saved or spent by creating not just an administrator but also a second position related to it.

In Marion’s case, cutting costs in these two areas would generate nearly twice what the current budget for annual street replacement provides. But that’s not the only way Marion could address the problem.

More than 20 years ago, Marion imposed a 0.75% sales tax to pay for improvements at Marion’s industrial park(ing lot). That debt’s been paid. Repealing the 0.75% tax and replacing it with a full 1.0% tax strictly devoted to streets and sidewalks might eliminate the need for borrowing — assuming the money goes into appropriate funds unlike the dog food recently billed to the city’s capital improvement fund.

Building streets after, rather than before, heavy construction and utility work nearby also might save money, as did the idea of relocating utilities out of streets before rebuilding an actual main trafficway (N. Cedar St.) years ago. That street also was done not in costly concrete but in economical asphalt, and it remains in good shape many years later.

Why not pursue all these ideas? Because the hangers-on don’t make money off them.

Wall St. types continually talk about borrowing your way to prosperity, but you also can borrow your way to poverty — a point ironically raised at Monday night’s meeting by a cattle feeder wanting permission to use city property to display equipment from his upcoming going-out-of-business sale.

Before concerns about spending and borrowing are given the bum’s rush by hangers-on, perhaps we need to hang on and think for a bit about what the hangers-on really are pushing.

— ERIC MEYER