AG 1993 04 19 - Laserfiche WebLink

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BUDGET SEPARATION ACT The Budget Separation Act is founded on the simple principle that it is wrong to exercise authority without responsibility. We see a blatant example of this today in the way Federal and State lawmakers pass very costly legislation, but do not raise the necessary revenues either by cuts or new taxes. In thi~q way they seek to pander to special interests, without being seen to raise taxes on a public which already feels over taxe& Unless these legislators are made accountable, there will be no limit to the expensive, irresponsible laws they will pass. By separating the county budget, and assigning the proper cost to each new mandate, the commi.qsioners can send the political bill back to those who should be paying it When enough counties have joined together in enacting the B.S.A. and the public sees the real cost of these mandates, there will be a political force strong enough to turn back these ~mreasonable mandates for fulldlng or repeal. The following is a part by part explamfion of the B.S.A~, that shows how each works with the other to achieve the desired result; more responsible legislation and an end to nnfunded laws and mandates. Ax-tide I describes how the budget w/il be separated and each part subdivided to show areas of mandated spending, and that all related documents in some way denote this separation. This is important for several reasons. One, it is black and white er/deuce for the public of how little of the county revenue is controlled by the commission, and how much is controlled by State and Federal mandates. Or, in other words, what the commissioners are respons~le for and what they are not Most people see now only a seemingly large county budget and wonder why taxes and spending keep going up. Perhaps more importantly, Article I lays the foundation for a process to alert the public whenever an-nfunded mandate is going to cause taxes to go up. Article H outlines the process for hanclllng new laws and mandates under the B.S.A. The advantages be~n to become clear. No longer will commissioners have to straggle to assimilate new expenses into an already overburdened budget They simply assign the rear, flute to its proper budget, then estimate the cost* and necessary tax increase. Since they did not vote for the mandate, they are not responsible for the new lax. *The initial cost estimate by commissioners should reflect the highest probable cost of implementation. If implementation cannot be avoided, a revised cost estimate will demonstrate to the public the commissioners~ dete~ ~',~ination to save taxpayer dollars. Article 111 should be considered the most crucial part of the B.S.A. (Picl~ocketAlarm ~lct). It is the part which gets th~. taxpayers involved in the fight ag,lnet unt~mtt~.d [nandates. By billing the taxpayer for his or her share of tbe cost of the mandate, Article demonstrates in a siunple but graphic and ,nmlstakable way the llnk between-nfimded mandates and higher county taxes. Imagine the deluge of irate phone calls to Raleigh or Washington when these rbill.~' are receivedt By passing the Budget Separation Act, commissioners will be sencling a strong message to their constituents: F/e are fighting tax increases and working to inform you when