There is no sigh of relief because budgetary troubles still abound. Government is not soundly funded. We secured a little bit of revenue but not enough. We took revenue from places we should not have. We level-funded things that should be raised. We reduced things that ought to be maintained or raised. We raised things that ought to be reduced. There is no sigh of relief, just the prayer, “Thank God it’s over.”
I asked the Senate sponsor of the General Fund Budget whether we would be back in the same position next year. His response was, “That depends.” I took that to mean we would indeed be facing the same fiscal demons in 2016. There is no sigh of relief, just the prayer, “Thank God it’s over for the moment.”
In a budget nutshell, we cut funding for many agencies, raised a little revenue, and robbed other agencies and entities. Let’s start with the robbery. We robbed Peter to pay Paul. We even robbed Peter’s children to pay Paul by taking $80 million from the education of our children to help fund prisons and pardons and parole. We robbed ADEM (Alabama Department of Environmental Management) of funding needed to keep our environment safe. We robbed EMA (Emergency Management Agency) of funding needed to keep us safe from both natural and man-made disasters. We robbed the Examiners of Public Accounts, which audits how we spend our revenues. And we robbed various other Peters to pay other Pauls. There is no sigh of relief, just the prayer, “Thank God it’s over for the moment.”
We raised very little revenue. We needed to raise $270 million just to maintain current levels of services. We raised just $60.5 million. We were told that the business privilege tax would be raised on large corporations so that all segments would contribute to solving the budget crises. It was not raised one red cent. They said that the FICA deduction on state income taxes would be removed so everyone would contribute a little. It was not removed at all. The only money raised came from consumer taxes – cigarettes. Only persons who smoke pay more. We did not have the will to do what needed to be done. There is no sigh of relief, just a sigh and the prayer, “Thank God it’s over for the moment.”
We level-funded four large governmental entities: Medicaid, the Unified Court System; the Department of Human Resources; and the Department of Mental Health. Medicaid and Department of Human Resources receive federal matching funds and a cut to them would result in the loss of federal money. The Department of Human Resources was cut big time in the 2015 budget. It is down to the bare bones. When we level-fund we really cut services because costs increase through inflation. There is no sigh of relief, just a sigh and a “Thank God it’s over for the moment.”
We increased the appropriation for the Department of Corrections in connection with Pardons and Parole. Corrections is on the verge of being taken over by the federal government. Corrections was the only agency whose budget was raised. Oh, I misspoke: the allocation for the Legislative Council was raised. They had combined various legislative entities on the promise that this would reduce costs. However, the costs were not decreased. There is no sigh of relief, just a sigh and a “Thank God it’s over for the moment.”
Virtually everything else was cut. There are too many agencies to name, but a few are as follows: Department of Public Health; Senior Services; Veteran’s Affairs; Youth Services; Department of Tourism; etc. There is no sigh of relief, just a sigh and a “Thank God it’s over.”
One item bears a little more discussion. Cancer is on a rampage in Alabama. Every time I turn around another person I know has developed cancer. However, we cut the budget for cancer research. We saved a little on the front end, but we lost a lot on the back end. In the long run, we will lose more lives. We will pay far more in health care costs. More people with suffer. There is no sigh of relief, just a sigh and a “Thank God it’s over for the moment.”
State employees have not had a raise since 2008. A person making $30,000 in 2008 now makes the equivalent of $25,500. Now, they will have to pay a bigger matching amount for health insurance. To make matters worse, health insurance will go up in January. An even more dismal development is that the number of state workers has been greatly reduced so fewer people are doing more at lower pay. We continue to compound what is wrong with more that is wrong. There is no sigh of relief, just an ongoing sigh and a “Thank God it’s over for the moment.”
EPILOGUE – Sometimes we just fail to rise to the occasion. The occasion is not too tall for us, but we are not tall enough for the occasion. In these moments, we must jump and reach for the occasion. When we don’t, it is usually a failure of will. I believe our failed response to the budgetary crisis was a failure of will. And that is a collective character defect.
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