Will the Rolling Stones still be playing live concerts in 2023? Will Keith Richards still be alive in 2023? Will there still be live concerts in 2023?
While the year 2023 seems like it’s eons in the future in some respects, it’s only 10 years away. And it’s the year today’s third-graders will graduate from high school. Heavy sigh.
The city is embarking on a 10-year budget exercise to take the finances into 2023. Yikes. Good thing I ordered my new crystal ball. (It’s actually free when you order a Magic 8 Ball, which I did.) Soon, I’ll be fully equipped to run the city (once my Harry Potter wand arrives in the mail).
Why try to estimate what major costs and/or revenues will impact the city during the next decade? Good question. And the answer might lie in the question you might ask us in 2023 if we didn’t do this: “How come the city didn’t anticipate “X” happening?”
Instructions: Solve for “X.”
In these columns, I try to let you see behind the curtain.
With that in mind, the city’s budget is much like your household budget. If you think you will need to replace a car in a few years, you might elect to begin saving now so that you will have a substantial down payment when it is time to buy. Or you might make the conscious decision not to save now and, instead, finance the majority of the purchase. You might even decide to buy now and not wait.
Cities are faced with the same types of decisions.
Should we pursue a pay-as-you-go strategy to replace police cars, fire engines and dump trucks nearing the end of their useful life, or should we buy all we need today, finance the entire purchase and pay it off (with interest) over time?
The answer to both the household budget and city budget question is the same: It depends. Each decision depends on a number of factors. What is our current cash flow? What is our anticipated cash flow in the future? How badly do we need to buy now? What if we wait another year? What are the interest rates and other terms of borrowing? What will future payments prevent us from otherwise doing?
Greene County is performing a similar exercise, called high-involvement budget planning. I applaud their efforts.
With the mayor’s proposal to create the Joint City-County Planning Committee, we should be able to identify those areas where both the city and county have similar near- and far-term challenges, and determine how we may be able to address them together.
If so, given our recent history of collaboration, the resident should be the winner.
Regardless, it’s going to take creativity, guts, data analysis, perseverance and political nerve.
Stay tuned.
By the way, my money is on Keith Richards.
Springfield City Manager Greg Burris can be reached at gburris@springfieldmo.gov.[[In-content Ad]]
