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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > November > 13 > Entry
Ellen Belcher: County won’t do well if it stops investing
What a difference 10 years make.
This week Montgomery County Administrator Deborah Feldman and Commissioner Dan Foley met with this newspaper’s editorial board to talk about the county’s budget. Let’s just say there was not much cheer in the room.
Numbers can be deadly, but stay with me here. There’s telling stuff to come.
Next year, the county’s general fund budget will be $140 million; this year’s is almost $152 million, propped up by rainy-day money and reserves. That drop figures out to about 11 percent.
Obviously, this is a big loss to swallow, but step back in time: The county’s strategic plan from 1998 estimated that expenses this year would be $179 million — representing an annual average increase of 3 percent.
No one, back then, was thinking things could slide so hard, so persistently, and, in the big picture, so fast.
Feldman said that she thinks the worst is over and that the county has hit a financial plateau of sorts. But she’s the first to say that she’s been surprised before and that she can’t be sure.
As further evidence about the need for humility:
The 1998 strategic plan said the county’s investment income would be $30 million this year; it will be about $15.5 million.
The plan estimated that the local government fund — that’s money the state sends to counties and cities — would hit $19 million; it will be about $13 million.
Even back then, the prognosticators were worried about what was going to happen with the sales tax, the county’s largest revenue source, what with people and shopping centers sprawling. It was projected to be $80 million this year; the true number will be about $59.1 million.
You get the picture. Things are bad, even ugly.
Somehow county government and the community have been able to adapt, even to start transforming themselves in important ways.
Still, you can’t look at the trend lines and not be worried about the next 10 years. If this isn’t rock bottom, how much more creative can people get about cost-cutting without gutting things that citizens want and expect?
One initiative that the 1998 strategic plan was bullish on was an economic development program know as EDGE. The county committed to putting $5 million a year into a pot for grants designed to create jobs and retain businesses.
Communities apply for the money for things like site development, relocation costs and road improvements. Everyone’s requests are stacked up, and a diverse group decides who wins and who has to wait to try again another time.
Once a deal is complete, a portion of the new tax proceeds are shared among participating local governments.
The program dates back to the early 1990s, and, though it wasn’t universally embraced initially, it has a good reputation among government leaders across the county today. Next year the county will put just $1 million into EDGE, and, after that, it could end altogether.
Besides trying to encourage local governments not to outbid each other when wooing a prospect — using tax-sharing as both an incentive and a reward — the fund exists to make sure that Montgomery County can compete when a new business opportunity comes along.
Invariably, if the opportunity is a good one, the company is looking for some public assistance and, oftentimes, smaller communities don’t have enough resources on their own to make themselves competitive with another region or state.
EDGE has been written up in textbooks and recognized by planners and national journalists as a smart way to pool resources and get communities to think regionally. Cutting it back so much — in anticipation of letting it die — is a mistake.
It’s a statement that Montgomery County can only see as far as the sheriff’s jailhouse doors and the courthouse. Those are the places where it spends most of its money.
Even in a budget that’s declined so steeply, there has to be money to invest. When things start to turn around, the region has to be ready to act.
No community can cut its way to prosperity.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Columns, Economy, Ellen Belcher, Local Business, Miami Valley Politics, Montgomery County, Suburban Communities
Comments
By Rick
November 14, 2009 9:21 AM | Link to this
Yes the County is in bad shape economically. Hopefully the “It is everyone elses fault but mine” Sheriff Plummer will realize he can not continue to subsidizing the 3 townships he provides police services. He must begin charging them the costs associated with administration of those contracts to level the playing field and provide an accurate rate comparison for surrounding jurisdictions. It is a well known assumption in the elected official/administrative/city manager community Sheriff Plummer is not a strong managerial force. He must do better and should enroll in business management courses if he is to continue as a steward of a budget over 30 million dollars.
By ricardo
November 14, 2009 12:20 PM | Link to this
It’s all about the jobs - unless people are working (and paying taxes) localy, regionaly & nationaly, no government funds are available to reinvest. Unfortunately, the county cannot print their own money.
By Dave
November 14, 2009 4:54 PM | Link to this
Rick, how are you such an expert on how the Sheriff’s Office is run by Sheriff Plummer? Where do you get this subsidation information. If there is any subsidizing to the townships would that not be returning tax money the residents have spent in the County? I am beginning to think you are a former member of the Sheriff’s Office who was not able to advance on merit and hard work. Just bury the ax and allow Sheriff Plummer do his job.
By Davidss2
November 14, 2009 7:27 PM | Link to this
The drop from 152 to 140 is 7.9%. I suggest the editorial folks, with all their knowledge, take basic math so they can pass the high school state test!!! Even miscalculating by dividing 12 by 140 gives 8.6%. How about it editors?-
By Rick
November 14, 2009 8:26 PM | Link to this
@Dave, I am not a member or former member of the Sheriff’s Department but I am very knowledgeable on this subject. I have seen data for years about how the Sheriff’s Department can provide a more inexpensive police service to the townships than comparative pricing for nearby cities. The fallacy lies in the fact Sheriff Plummer does not charge the townships for any adminstrative, personnel, and many ancillary police functions such as evidence technicians, violent crime investigations, swat call outs etc… Sheriff Plummer could do HIS job by as an elected official by administering general fund money he receives from sales tax monies ALL Montgomery County citizens pay in a more judicious manner. He has a legal responsibility to perform ONLY the functions prescribed to him by the Ohio Revised Code. His self proclaimed status as “gang czar” is clearly clouding his judgment and legal mandate. I have no ax to bury, I just want him to represent all taxpayers, all city residents too, and then he will be doing his JOB!
By to Rick from John
November 15, 2009 9:40 PM | Link to this
Rick, don’t worry about that idiot going by the name Dave. He’s a Sheriffs office plant who always says anyone with a view different than the MCSO company line is a fired employee who is invariably drawing a retirement. They cannot come up with anything better than that. MCSO and the Sheriff’s leap into the anti gang programs while probably needed is not his core function and if you aren’t doing your core functions well then the rest is just fluff and BS. There’s a lot of fluff and BS in what the SO is doing nowadays. There’s a group that thinks the FOP prez bought his job. That’s the sour grape group who by and large are probably corrections officers who can’t get out of the jail because they’re just not smart enough. Then you have the old school group there who don’t, can’t and won’t work well with others. MCSO hasn’t for years worked well with others. I think there are attempts at it, but there is still so much Dave Vore running through the veins that they fall back often. The region needs a metro police department. While the county spends millions of years, lessor departments spend equivalent monies on their infrastructure. The elitists in the southern part of the county are under the stupid assumption that their cops are taking care of their problems and that Dayton and the rougher northern parts of the county and trotwood are on their own. The idiots don’t see that the scum travels throughout the region and don’t care if they’re in miami township or oakwood. The taxpayers of the county need to take a real hard look at what we’re paying for and what we are receiving as far as our law enforcement is concerned.
By John
November 16, 2009 9:51 PM | Link to this
@By to Rick from John Why do you continue to disguise yourself as someone who has any true knowledge about the Sheriff’s Office? I was a ranking office at the Sheriff’s Office and retired with over 30 years of service. Unlike you, I know what I am talking about. Their were many employees fired from the Sheriff’s Office in my time for a variety of performance and criminal reason. Vore rooted out many of these lazy thieves, drug addicts, supervisors who had sex with subordinates on duty, those who frequented prostitutes, deputies who engaged in sex with inmates, used leads for personal business and the list is endless. Many of these FIRED employees ran up to Columbus with the assistance of unscrupulous attorneys and labor reps and secured “disability” separations. I suspect you are one these individuals, a Coward who continually takes pot shots at individuals who served in ways you could only dream, but that is what cowards do, they hide anonymously. You are much uninformed if you believe for a minute the present FOP Prez did not get his plum, overtime, guaranteed job by getting Plummer the endorsement. I worked in a position for Vore that involved working with many other agencies. We did fine and were totally supported by Vore. Those who tried to manipulate the operations were quickly set straight and 2 in particular didn’t like it. Too bad, they like you took their ball and left the game. You are an idiot if you believe there will ever be a Metro police department in this area. Plummer is recognized by 98% of the elected officials as being very weak and uncooperative. The city managers and other “financial” officials have absolutely no respect for him yet even he will not give up this police functions for a Metro department. I would venture to say you are not even a County resident therefore you have no voice in how Montgomery County taxes are spent. Maybe you should crawl back under your rock and wait for golf season to come back around since your “other” business isn’t doing so well.
By John
November 17, 2009 8:23 AM | Link to this
30 year hero? Your peers on the SO helped vote Phil in. You guys did it to yourselves. 30 year ranking officer? You’re one of the losers responsible for the current and recent screwed up mess the SO has become. Your buddie Vore began the downward spiral and Phil is flushing the toilet. Do yourself a favor and quit telling people you are a 30 year veteran, it’s embarrassing for those of us who are still doing the real job. There will come a time when the entire area will get sick of paying for service they aren’t getting and they will demand a professional area agency. The little podunk departments with their egotist chiefs aren’t making any impact. While they’re changing your diapers today, ask them to check your meds too will ya?
By John
November 17, 2009 8:58 AM | Link to this
@By to Rick from John, You have proven my point to your identity. You are the same paranoid and mentally challenged person SHERIFF VORE FIRED BECAUSE OF INCOMPETENCE, AMONG OTHER THINGS. YOU THEN RAN UP TO COLUMBUS TO GET YOUR “DISABILITY SEPERATION” SO YOU COULD LIVE OFF THE TAXPAYERS OF OUR GREAT COUNTY. YOU DO NOTHING NOR DID YOU DO ANYTHING POSITIVE TO DESERVE THE WELFARE CHECK YOU RECEIVE EVERY MONTH. YOUR PEERS KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU DID. YOU ARE A DISGRACE AND YOU DON’T HAVE THE COURAGE TO WORK A CONVEINANCE STORE AT NIGHT LET ALONE DO THE JOB I DID FOR 33 YEARS. HERE’S ANOTHER INDICATOR OF YOUR COWARDICE. VORE AND PLUMMER BOTH WERE AND ARE THERE. YOU NEVER HAD THE BA**S TO SNIPE THEM TO THEIR FACES. IF YOU HAD WE WOULD HAVE HEARD ABOUT IT, NOPE, YOU ARE ONE OF THE CLADESTINE, HIDE BEHIND MY COMPUTER SCREEN INSIGNIFICANT PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD. TOO BAD YOU GET THAT CHECK EVERY MONTH, THAT’S THE REAL WASTE OF TAXPAYER MONEY.