My State Rep sent me a survey

[Business_Casual]

He wants to know what to do in face of the budget "crisis" in Virginia.

Almost all the questions had an option for "Other" which I chose and added the comment: "Stop spending so much money."

It is really that simple.

M_P

[John_Wayne777]

If she actually reads that sparks will fly out of her head and she'll start hollering "DOES NOT COMPUTE" over and over again until her head explodes.

State agencies are reducing budgets. Higher ed, as an example, is being instructed to cut anywhere from 10-15% out of this fiscal year's budget and are being directed to prepare next year's budget with similar cuts and the option of additional cuts to be decided later. Other state agencies are doing the same....

The problem with all of this is that the SCOPE of what government does is not being changed...the funding is just being put on hold temporarily. Meanwhile I fully expect a bunch of tax increases to be proposed...Kaine will support any that get through to his desk most likely.

Having worked in state government for a while it's the same story as it usually is....growth is limited somewhat only by bad economic circumstances, but once revenues go up all the plans are back in motion. In hard economic times nobody ever stops to consider whether or not we should be doing X or Y. It's a given that we should, and any assertion to the contrary makes you look like a monster.

When some community outreach program has their funding reduced all the employees show up at meetings with "What are you going to tell these kids? What are we supposed to do about these kids? How can we turn our back on these kids now when we are needed most???" and eventually they get their budget back...and more.

[RD62]

Tell her to stop giving herself pay raises!

http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/agencies/a/raise4congress.htm

Economic crisis, Democrat about to be sworn in as POTUS, Democratic majority legislative branch, spread the wealth and all that, and they give themselves a pay raise!

It may only be $3400, but they already make $158K! According to the Census Bureau, in '07 the average household income was $50K. So they are getting 3x that plus whatever else they have coming in!

My wife is a teacher, no cost of living raise for her or anyone else in public education this year. Between no raises and mandatory time off without pay, they are HOPING not to have to lay off school nurses and busdrivers.

Thank goodness we have such fiscally savy people in D.C. to help all us common folk (who cling to our Bibles and guns) out of our financial problems!

-RD62

P.S. After re-reading I may have misread your original post. I thought you meant your Senator or Congressman.

[mmike87]

I received one from Rob Bell, my delegate as well.

He's my neighbor and lives in my subdivision right down the street. We're lucky to have him as he's a staunch pro-2nd supporter across the board.

One thing that gets me around here is that I pay, literally, DOUBLE in property taxes as when I bought my home in late 2001. I KNOW inflation has not been 100% since then. Yet, the school whines daily about how they have no money. Most of the money in Albemarle County goes to the schools, they are the largest consumer of tax revenue.

Where the hell is all the money going????

[John_Wayne777]

Where the hell is all the money going????

I'm going to go on a bit of a limb here, but I don't believe you will ever find a government agency that has ever done anything but ask for more money. It's inherent in their nature.

As to where the money is going, there is not now, has not been, and never shall be a shortage of ways in which to spend money.

I'm not an expert on education, but I know that in many school districts in Virginia there is a common theme of needing to provide more services to the influx of immigrant kids that most Virginia schools are getting.