Laserfiche WebLink
Maybe you ought to look at this thing with <br /> an idea towards trying to simplify wherever possible. Trying <br /> to cut back the growth. One of things that we used to do in <br /> budgeting, or we tried to do, because I worked for Chairman <br /> Kimura for roughly three and & half years so I had the chance <br /> to make three annual budgets. One of the things that you <br /> notice when you make budgets is that you tend to take last <br /> year ' s figure and say okay we are going to allow no more than <br /> a ten percent increase on this. But what you are really <br /> doing is compounding at a ten percent rate. There is a <br /> little rule we use in financial business that if you want to <br /> know how long it takes your money to double there is something <br /> called the rule of seventy-two. You simply take whatever rate <br /> you are working with, divide it into seventy-two and that is <br /> the number of years that it takes to double. So if you are <br /> compounding at a ten percent rate, you are going to double in <br /> 7.2 years..__ -- ; it is not starting from a base. You hear a <br /> term zero base budgeting. That is what zero base budgeting <br /> does, it gets you back to the base so that you are not adding <br /> ten percent on last year' s figures, you are not compounding. <br /> You go back to a simple base. Maybe zero base budgeting <br /> is something that this Charter Commission can start thinking <br /> about a little bit. Whether this is a good thing to have in <br /> the county. All of us are concerned about increasing costs, <br /> increasing taxation. There has been almost a national revolt <br /> saying that we don ' t-want any more tax increases. Something <br /> has got to give obviously you can ' t have an increase in <br /> services and lower taxes at the same time. But maybe zero <br /> base budgeting is -a good way to start from scratch every <br /> year. It takes a little longer to make the budget. It would <br /> take a good deal more thought and effort. But nevertheless <br /> it can be done. <br /> Maybe you ought to look at other basic forms. <br /> Maybe there are some of you who feel that county manager <br /> would be desirable. Maybe it would. In .a way a county manager <br /> form is a little bit of a compromise between a really weak <br /> mayor :or commission system and a strong mayor system. It ' s <br /> got aspects of both so maybe you ought to look at that. Maybe <br /> you ought to look at some sunset clauses. This has become <br /> one of the things that bodies of this sort consider now, <br /> should we put in sunset clauses? The constitutional convention <br /> considered this . I don ' t mean just sunset clauses for boards <br /> and commissions. Councilman Garcia said today he thought the <br /> boards and commissions that existed ought to be continued and <br /> maybe they should and maybe they shouldn ' t. Maybe some sort <br /> of a sunset clause where it automatically would go out of <br /> existence after a period of time unless specifically renewed, <br /> might not be a bad thing. If youwant ;to really keep_ from <br /> having the government continually burgeon in size on yoi . - <br /> - - <br /> Not only in commissions but in departments. <br /> Now, Councilman Garcia did mention the <br /> possibility of consolidating some departments. Perhaps that <br /> should be looked at. Is a department really necessary? What <br /> is it doing? Is it serving a valid purpose? These are some <br /> of the things. I think all of these are areas that you,, could <br /> look at. <br /> -21- <br /> 0 <br />