03-31-2010, 07:44 PM
Sorry Bob, apparently I'm not able to make myself clear, either to you or others. I'm not interested in accounting for the pennies. But I am interested in trying to learn what a particular line item pays for. There's little point in discussing whether an item is $40M, $20M, or $80M. By themselves those numbers have little meaning. Perhaps I'm jaded by my own comptroller/budget days. IMHO if one doesn't know the rationale behind the numbers, then one can't argue the numbers. Money pays for things. Those things may be man-hours or man-years, miles of road paved, kilowatts of electricity used, equipment purchased, gallons of fuel used, etc. Those things are quantifiable and have an associated cost. Budgets are built based on knowns and best guesses based on knowns. Shouldn't take a records request, should be a document that is a part of the budget summary.
In the matter of employees perhaps the 2,200 is a good number as pertains to authorized spaces (not faces), but if the reality is 200 unfilled vacancies that stay unfilled then the budget is artificially bloated nearly 10% in all expenditures related to those 2,200. - Mayoral slush fund??
Hopefully, this is understandable.
David
Ninole Resident
In the matter of employees perhaps the 2,200 is a good number as pertains to authorized spaces (not faces), but if the reality is 200 unfilled vacancies that stay unfilled then the budget is artificially bloated nearly 10% in all expenditures related to those 2,200. - Mayoral slush fund??
Hopefully, this is understandable.
David
Ninole Resident
Ninole Resident