Riley County Spending To Go Up In 2001
By Jon A. Brake
Kids working for Daily Newspapers love to tell readers all about tax
levy. "If you own a $100,000 home ..."
you've seen it many times. Doesn't mean a thing. The only important
thing about a budget is the bottom line.
Last Friday the Mercury even got the bottom line wrong. The Riley County
Budget for 2001 is not $9.6 million, it
is $25.4 million. And if you know anything about budgets that is up
from the $28.8 million in 2000.
Now, how can a $25.4 million Budget be up? The citizens of Riley County
voted four years ago to build a new
Riley County Law Enforcement Center (Jail). For the County to spend
the $15.8 million, they had to put it in the
budget. $11.4 was paid-out in 1999 and $4.4 is to be paid-out this
year.
Look at the Budget Summary to the right. The 1999 Budget was $32.3 million,
less $11.4 for the LEC or the
County spent $20.9 million. The 2000 Budget was $28.8 less $4.4 or
the County will spend $24.4. The 2001
Budget will not have LEC money. The County Commission will pass a $25.4
million Budget, $1 million more than
this year.
The tax levy doesn't mean anything because the value of Riley County
property is higher each year. They take in
more money each year without passing a higher levy.
When you read the County has cut a half million or a million from the
budget, it is not true. The Commissioners
will cut from what the department heads have requested, not from the
Budget.
How else did the Riley County Budget go from $12 million in 1991 to
$25 million in 2001?