By most accounts the remarks made by Kathy Haigh last year recommending "crossing our fingers and hoping for the best" concerning Washington State's budget, have come to pass and the results are not good.
At this time the revenue forecasts are only 2.1 billion for the next two years not the hoped for 3.5 Billion. Those numbers are far apart and seem to be growing farther.
Dan Griffey shared-
"We need real leadership in Olympia. A sustainable budget was not passed this year. It was a wait and see...cross you fingers and hope for the best budget, that now is projected to be over 1.4 Billion short! We must honestly address the budget concerns and not rely on gimmicks to make it look better than it really is."
Rob McKenna had this to say-
"This announcement underscores the need for state government to begin living under sustainable budgets. It is simply wrong to overspend in good times, adding billions in future spending without means to pay for it, and then cutting in bad times and not living up to promises our citizens have planned on."
Did we have warning that this could be the case? Yes. Was there something we could have done about it? Yes. Is it too late to address it? No.
Some of the options that should have been used, included:
No use of one-time money for ongoing programs
No transfers from other budgets
Strong reserve to meet unforeseen emergencies or revenue drops
Protect constitutional mandates
Transparency — no gimmicks
Utilize priorities of government
Reflect priorities of governing board
Minimize legal disputes
Seek efficiencies and reforms where cost effective
No new taxes
Restrict fee increases to benefit of payer
Provide flexibility in administration/ compliance
While we do have options for addressing the current shortfall, we would have been far better off if it had been addressed sooner rather than later, after all time is money.
The other issue we are facing is that the ones who voted in the unsustainable budget are the very ones who are now going to address it. Do we trust them to make the tough choices or are they just going to sell (tax) us another bill of goods?
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Dinah
As Realtors we need to stay active in government affairs and have a voice on the local, state and national level.
Good luck and success.
Lou Ludwig
Lou,I could not agree with you more. I became more active when I saw as a Realtor just was happening to our economy at all levels. We need to elect leaders and representatives that have common sense approaches and are willing to do what is best for the citizens.
I live in a county with some of the highest unemployment numbers in the state. Yet, I have seen businesses run out of my area and discouraged from setting up shop. I am tired of seeing how out of touch some of our representatives are with the vital needs of our communities.
I tried crossing my fingers and hoping my income improved to reach my annual outlay. I must say crossing my fingers increased my income by 0%. I just knew if the government was using it then it must be a good idea. /end sarcasm
Dinah, the problem is that those in power in our states sell their souls to Washington. We must stop the transfer of money, grants etc. to states from Washington since it is only borrowing the money and not really paying for the goods. And Realtors are part of the problem, because they keep asking Washington to fix the problem. It can't, but we can. We must take back our towns and states from grant writers and pencil pushers.