Plano Passes A Budget

September 28, 2016
On Monday, Sept 12, 2016 the Plano City Council unanimously passed the 2016-2017 proposed budget. The Mayor thinks the budget is a wonderful example of fiscal responsibility; however, the city will be spending more money next year then last year. The city is already 41 million dollars in debt, and if the budget is fiscally responsible, we should not spend more then we take in. These would be logical conclusions, but we are talking about the language of a politician. We need to remember that politicians' language is very different from our own.
For 2016-2017 the revenue is projected to be $317 million; that is up from last year. The operating budget is $317 million, which is also higher than last year. If you only saw that, you would think we have a balanced budget. The problem with that, is our debt is part of the operating budget. The following are a list of things in the budget that caught my attention. The words in brackets are my thoughts about the item.

• A 3% raise for every city employee. {They get a raise every year; meanwhile, I know some private citizens whose salary went down.}
• Some employees will be getting more than a 3% raise. {This is not a merit based raise. Their pay is going up, so that Plano can say it pays its employees the same as other cities. For example, if a first year cop gets paid $100,000 in Dallas, a first year Plano cop will get paid the same. (This is only an example, not the actual numbers). }
• $10,031 for awards and plaques. {I wonder if they are made of gold.}
• $25,078 for miscellaneous credit card debt. {Yes, it is listed as miscellaneous. Nothing should be listed as miscellaneous. They should tell us what that money is being spent on.}
• $160,127 for advertising. {NY, Huston, San Antonio, and Galveston advertise to tourists. Plano is not a “destination city”, so we will never be listed on a top vacation destination list with NYC, Orlando, and Miami}
• $15,000 for art. {We are in debt! Why are we spending money for art?! If the city wants art for a park, hold an art contest. Then the winner's art will be placed in the park.}
• $50,000 for an art fest. {Tax payers should not have to pay for this, private organizations should.}
• $7,624 for laundry. {WHOSE LAUNDRY ARE WE DOING?! Funny, the budget doesn’t say.}
• $39,122 for food. {It does not say what the food is for.}
• $70,000 for an art study. {This is totally unnecessary. I am not sure why the city needs this much money to study art. Instead, the money could go to the police or fire department.}
  The above is only a fraction of the budget. Here is the link to the full budget http://budget.finances.plano.gov/#!/year/default . The items listed above add up to a lot of money. Every penny the city spends comes from tax payers, or consumers who spent money at a local business, yet it is the job of council to protect our money from being wasted. It is also the city's responsibility to be totally open and transparent with our money; however, this budget does not do that.
  The Plano Political Pit Bull signing off