Brockport’s Budget

Fiscal responsibility was a central plank in the platform I shared with Trustee Scott Hunsinger last spring. Faced with capital projects the scope of which Brockport doesn’t see often (I’m thinking of the replacement of the sewer lines and water mains under Main Street later this year and the New York State Department of Transportation’s overhaul of the roadway slated to begin in 2010), a solid understanding of the village’s priorities will be instructive as we begin the budget process.

At last Monday’s village board meeting, Trustee David Wagenhauser suggested that the village’s department heads—the superintendent of the Brockport Department of Public Works, the chief of the Brockport Police Department, etc.—re-submit to the board their budget proposals to reflect a 2% cut compared with current fiscal year budgets. This was an idea he had put forth at a board meeting earlier this year, one that I support.

There’s nothing magical about the number 2%. It just seems like a good starting point if the board’s going to attempt in earnest to hold the line on taxes. Spending is a choice, and I think it’s fair of the board to ask department heads to find items that taxpayers may not need to buy.

In addition to the baseline budget, Trustee Hunsinger suggested that department heads forward to the board prioritized lists of items they’d like to see funded. This will help to clarify and urgent needs and differentiate them from emergent needs. I hope it also will provide a basis for constructive conversation about which expenditures would be wise and which can wait.

Finally, I suggested at the last board meeting that budget proposals ought to follow a common format. There are several reasons for this.

First, I must admit that I was a bit surprised at the some of budget materials we had received. While I realize that the budget request didn’t include any instructions, I had expected to see line items in more or less of a spreadsheet format. Given that department heads have varying degrees of budgetary experience though, it makes sense in retrospect that what they submitted didn’t always follow any established template.

Having a budget protocol—defining what will be most helpful to the board—will help us compare proposals side by side among departments. It will make it easier to make sense of requests and to understand across the organization where money is flowing now, and where more ought to flow.

With this request we are, of course, asking department heads to do more. However, I hope that by doing more they might gain insight into the process, at least the board’s end of it. That’s because the likely outcome this spring is that we’ll adopt a spending plan that includes some items and excludes others. There are tough choices ahead, and I believe that getting everyone on the same page—literally—will streamline the process and benefit decision makers and taxpayers alike.