[Winona Online Democracy] One way to define "essential" would be services that are mandated by the legislature to be provided by counties or cities. We could go through a consensus-building process from there to determine or prioritize services to be fully funded or partially funded, depending on what priority the community gives it.
For example, things like streets, police, water and sewer, courts, hazardous waste disposal, public health and human services would be essential (the list is longer than this, I'm sure). Then we could define categories of other kinds of services that we know are valuable--some might be able to be supported in part by user fees (e.g., Park Rec already depends on user fees for shelters, sponsor donations for uniforms, admission to the aquatic center). Maybe we divide some of the services into categories, depending on a demographic that utilizes the service (e.g., the Senior Center for older adults and 4H and DARE for youth). Or there could be categories like health and wellness (Senior Center), recreation (parks), and culture (Hisorical Society, Master Gardeners) that citizens choose to support one or all, depending on what services they value. I didn't mean to imply that one would choose to opt out of funding any of the essentials that they didn't value (e,g, TANF or MFIP may not be popular with voters, but they are legislated by the state and administered by counties). But, yes, if I didn't want my discretionary "tax" dollars going to DARE, I simply would indicate that by designating other programs as recipients. Another person might wish to support the Historical Society, but not the WRC. Folks who have no strong preferences could have their monies go to a general fund to be divided much as is done under the current system. Some programs may not get as much funding as they would under the current system, but others might get more and it sure would eliminate a lot of the complaints about taxes not benefitting the taxpayer and eliminate the abuse of power that happens when an elected official advocates for a pet project or program. Program administrators could take energy they put into justifying their existance to the taxpayers and playing politics and use it to look for creative solutions for support whether it is an increase in user fees or to apply for grants or fundraise with help from stakeholders or other supporters. As far instability in funding--how less stable could it be than what we're seeing now? Kathy Seifert ----- Original Message ----- From: "terri hyle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 11:32 PM Subject: Re: [Winona] budget cuts > [Winona Online Democracy] > > Kathy, > > Your post raises a couple of questions: First of all, how do we define > 'nonessential services?' I doubt that those of us who are subscribers would > all agree on a definition--much less the state at large. Secondly, if I can > dedicate a portion of my tax dollars towards certain services which I > morally support, can I also with hold my tax dollars from those services > that I morally oppose? > > Some of what makes me uncomfortable is that causes that are not cute enough > or high enough on our radar will suffer from lack of funding, despite > genuine need and benefit to society. And, of course, continuity in programs > is dependent upon continuity in funding. Too often we don't realize that a > program is cut until the cut is put into effect. It is much less efficient > and much more expensive to have to solicit funds to restore cuts, or to > restore services than it is to maintain quality programs through predictable > funding. I know that one of the on going problems of school districts in MN > is that funding changes from year to year---according to student > populations, yes, but also according to how well a particular school > district fits into targeted categories that may shift from year to year. I > am amazed at how well school districts do in designing budgets, given the > constraints they are under. I am mentioning school districts only because I > have more familiarity with the funding process/problems faced by districts > than I do with funding for cities and counties. I am certain that cities > and counties face similar problems. However, if property taxes are the > basis for funding, the funding tends to remain stable from year to year and > budget cycle to budget cycle---and isn't usually committed to this category > of spending or that category as is the case when the state provides funding. > > I like local control/local funding best--but we have to step up to the plate > at the local level to make it work. > > Terri Hyle > http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org > _______________________________________________ This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona Any problems or suggestions can be directed to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org
