Tue
May 22 2007
05:29 pm
The Rough Equivalent of a Budget Hearing
By: Mark Harmon

Knox County's Intergovernmental and Finance Committees did not adjourn at the end of their Monday meetings, but instead recessed until 8 a.m., Thursday the 24th, in the Main Assembly Room. It is scheduled to run until noon. Community Television (Ch. 12 on Comcast) will cover it. It is a busy agenda.

First, each of the Departments will have up to ten minutes to discuss its individual budget (clerk, judge, law director, register of deeds, property assessor, sheriff, trustee, etc.).

Then, consideration of Non-Profit Agencies and Community Grant Funds.

Then a Public Forum.

Then, consideration of the various budget, taxes, and borrowing resolutions.

--Mark Harmon

Topics:
Rachel's picture

Yes, it's better than

Submitted by Rachel on Tue, 2007/05/22 - 6:15pm.

Yes, it's better than nothing. But expecting the public to show up on a workday morning is pretty weak.

Sandra Clark's picture

Moody

Submitted by Sandra Clark on Tue, 2007/05/22 - 7:41pm.

Doctor Mark: Perhaps you should call Wanda Moody out of retirement to ask some tough questions. Most of these commissioners think a budget hearing is a yawner -- a time for people to come and beg -- rather than a time for commissioners to dig into spending. -- s.

spratt's picture

But the way that it goes

Submitted by spratt on Tue, 2007/05/22 - 7:42pm.

...is that the commissioners as a whole don't show much respect or attention to the members of the public who choose to be heard at these meetings anyway. Ever notice how when the 'open forum' part of the commission meetings starts up, a lot of our elected officials just start milling about and joking with their comrades? Pretty insulting.

I think that if they want to make an impact on any issue, the public is probably better served by putting the heat on their own representatives in whatever way they can than they are by trying to be participants in a forum where they are not taken seriously.

Sandra Clark's picture

Whose hearings anyhow?

Submitted by Sandra Clark on Tue, 2007/05/22 - 9:33pm.

Not sure the budget hearings should even be for the public. They should be a forum for thoughtful commissioners to question spending priorities, for that's really all a budget is.

How can they possibly understand the school system's needs by giving Roy Mullins 10 minutes?

Vision Roy talking really fast like those disclaimers on a cellular contract ad. -- s.

spratt's picture

I agree

Submitted by spratt on Tue, 2007/05/22 - 9:51pm.

The county's budget is a complicated one, and anyone who isn't pretty darned familiar with the intricacies of government bookkeeping is probably going to be hopelessly lost, whether they know it or not! The best we can hope for is commissioners who can accept what it is that they do and do not understand; can leave their egos behind when they find out that they didn't really understand the issues fully when they are challenged in a public forum; and who don't come to the table with self-serving (or self-serving for their masters') agendas rather than the best interest of their constituents in mind.

D Mac's picture

Harmon is kicking butt!

Submitted by D Mac on Thu, 2007/05/24 - 8:59am.

I am watching the "hearing" and want to thank Commissioner Harmon for asking the tough questions. It is a shame this is happening at this time of day when it is difficult to watch the whole thing.

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