IS IT TRUE? Part Two May 26, 2011 Consolidation
IS IT TRUE that members of the Evansville City Council and the Vanderburgh County Commissioners are continuing with the effort to amend the consolidation plan into a document that both of them can support before moving forward to a referendum?…that the consolidation plan as it is will be soundly defeated and that serious changes will have to be made for there to be any hope of passage?…that a wise man once said that “when your horse is dead your only option is to dismountâ€?…that from an efficiency of government perspective that carving out large portions of a budget that are off limits to review is a fundamental mistake and sends messages of favoritism and cowardice to the populace being governed?
IS IT TRUE that the perfect example of making the fundamental mistake of granting broad exemptions to favored groups is the federal government’s approach to universal healthcare?…that what we have looming is not universal healthcare at all?…that when this political support group, that fancy restaurant, one of 500 separate unions, and the congress itself are exempted then the word universal does not apply?…that these exceptions and exemptions are the ammunition used by opponents of universal healthcare to discredit it as filled with favoritism?…that ignoring to review the largest components of the budgets of the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County sends the exact same message to opponents of consolidation?
IS IT TRUE that the concept of consolidation is an easy concept to grasp and that it is intuitively easy to understand how one governing body can waste less money than two or more governing bodies?…that even a first grader can grasp and support that concept?…that what is utterly befuddling is how a committee made up of intelligent people can spend countless hours and not find any efficiencies that can be leveraged for the financial benefit of both the residents of the city and the county?…that the City of Evansville has a budget per person of nearly $1,000 per year more than the City of Henderson does?…that both budgets are readily available on the websites of the respective city governments?…that simply looking for the differences in the budgets of the City of Evansville and other cities should easily identify opportunities for saving money?
IS IT TRUE that the residents of both the city and the county if given the opportunity to save $1,000 per person per year will overwhelmingly support consolidation?…that the total saved if just the City of Evansville were to use Henderson as a model would amount to $117 Million per year?…that for learned people to spend a year on a project and then have it followed by a review by elected officials and still have only token savings can only mean a couple of things?…that one thing that it could mean is that the people doing this are just plain dumb?…that knowing many of them that this is simply not the case, these are smart people?…that maybe these smart people and our elected officials are afraid to broach the subject of some sacred cows?…that the only way to find substantial savings that will get the support of the citizens of this county and city to support it is to examine the budgets of every sacred cow and to eliminate the ones that are not needed to provide essential services?…that failure to do this by carving out exemptions and exceptions will doom consolidation?…that if the architects of this plan and the elected officials that are trying to craft amendments move forward with something that shows no financial advantages for consolidating then consolidation will go down in flames and will be set back at least 10 years by cowardice?
IS IT TRUE that when businesses merge there is a simple three step process to a successful merger and eventual benefit?…that the first step is RIGHTSIZING, followed by RE-MARGINING, followed by GROWTH?…that business cannot afford to support sacred cows and governments that desire to merge can’t either?…that Jerry McGuire got it right when his only client looked him square in the eye and uttered the words “SHOW ME THE MONEYâ€?
City Council, County Commissioners, and Consolidation Committee, “SHOW US THE MONEY†and you will get our support.
In the spirit of charity, I’m wondering if the CCO would be interested in offering another bounty? (Political sign theft, Weaver style.)
The bounty could be donated to the charity of the winner’s choice.
All it would take to win the bounty, would be to get a live question of the Mayor on the local nightly news. Here is the setup and requirements:
– Interviewer should be holding pictures of the McCurdy, pre-mowing.
– Interviewer simply leans over to show the pictures to the Mayor and asks… “This is, [dramatic pause] atrocious, isn’t it?”
(Note: Interviewer should have in his back pocket, the pictoral evidence provided of “Atrocious”, SMG management – for follow up questions, if needed.)
“that for learned people to spend a year on a project and then have it followed by a review by elected officials and still have only token savings can only mean a couple of things?…that one thing that it could mean is that the people doing this are just plain dumb?…that knowing many of them that this is simply not the case, these are smart people?…”
“Smart people” doesn’t necessarily equate people with common sense even though they might have a common goal and are well educated. There should really be a timetable applied to the “consolidation committee” and if they can’t come up with a workable/supportable plan they should be disbanded and a new committee formed.
There was a timetable applied to the reorganization committee: One year to come up with a plan. They met that deadline. And another year for the city council and the county commissioners to agree to the submitted plan, to revise the plan, or to send the plan back to committee with suggestions for revisions, and then pass the revised plan. They are working on that deadline right now. So, what’s your point exactly? That you didn’t know the timeline?
The point is that the one simple metric that people understand and respond to has not been adequately addressed. That is of course money. Many good thinkers and writers have brought up issues that need to be dealt with but if there is no savings identified the very reason for considering consolidation is negated. Thus we chose the theme “show us the money”.
My comment was intended as a reply to Blanger’s comment: “There should really be a timetable applied to the ‘consolidation committee’ and if they can’t come up with a workable/supportable plan they should be disbanded and a new committee formed.”
I guess I forgot to punch the “reply” button.
Otherwise, I agree with your comments and also would like to see the savings accounted for. I’ve commented here and other places several times that the Crowe Horwath financial analysis was premature and incomplete, especially as it was finished and submitted well before the committee’s final draft of the plan. So, how the hell can it reflect a true analysis of the finished plan?
Comments are closed.