It is the same every year.
Municipal elected officials prepare the new year budget. If an increase in the property tax is not required, everyone goes home happy.
If an increase -- particularly a significant one -- is called for, the leaders promise to consider serious cuts before the final budget is voted into place. But it is not likely they will completely avoid a tax increase for property owners or other increases in fees, such as garbage collection.
When Kittanning approved its tentative budget on Dec. 5, a borough resident asked an oft-heard question at such times: "How long will people (taxpayers) be able to afford to keep paying what they're paying?"
A common response for local officials is to decry what past elected officials have done to them and to the taxpayers -- and the criticism is legitimate.
In Ford City, Councilman Ron Dillard noted that the police department is "costing us about 55 percent of all the money coming into the borough," particularly with regard to pension costs.
Both boroughs are short thousands of dollars in meeting the goal of balanced budgets.
Both councils will likely approve budgets by the end of the year, and we doubt taxpayers will get away unscathed.
But after that is done, then what?
Is there any bright light on the horizon for the 2013 budget⢠Probably not.
There is more to good leadership than looking at the fiscal facts and then giving thumbs up or down on cutting the bottom line. That is just putting the problem off until another year, and perhaps it will be a year when there will be a whole new batch of elected officials to deal with it.
Let's start making a list: What is imperative for the government to provide for its people⢠Can some things be handled by private enterprise⢠Is there a better way to provide for the public's safety⢠Are there services that can be better provided if considered by a consortium of municipalities instead of going at them alone⢠Can county and state leaders in the area suggest some solutions?
Finding the answers is not going to be easy or they would have been found already.
But energy and creativity must go into such an effort -- long before someone says it is time to start preparing the new year budget.
