Standard Examiner - South Ogden Needs a Trim

A nice editorial in the Standard Examiner today is eerily similar to what I mentioned in my blog post last week: See Here.  South Ogden is in desperate need of some financial counseling.  It is the classic tale of spending way more money than you have coming in.  Obviously we are in a tough economy but South Ogden at some point has forgotten this.  What is interesting, is this has been problem for some time and we are now just taking notice...or are we?

In 2008 we were headed in the same direction.  The Standard Examiner reported on December 8, 2008 that South Ogden was in the hole.  See Blog Post and Article here. Our former city manager, was even quoted as saying, "if sales taxes drop we will be in a lot of trouble."  However South Ogden just kept spending like sales taxes were still coming in.  I brought this to our attention also in November 2008 showing we were headed for a negative year to the tune of $300,000 (See Here).  Yet we were then all told that we are back on budget, which was due to using the "Rainy Day Fund." (See Here).  In 2009, once again Mr. Darrington cautioned we were going to maybe break even on the budget, but only if sale tax revenue held strong.  (See Line 322 Here).  But at this time were currently negative and hoping we would balance out.  Don't worry even if we were, South Ogden City balanced their budget with their "Rainy Day Fund."

In June of this year this South Ogden City Finance Manager, Steve Liebersbach, predicted we were headed for a $225,000 deficit, but our budget was balanced due to our so called "Rainy Day Fund".  Yet the city kept spending. (See Minutes Here) Council members called out for cuts and concerns to new hires and promotions; yet the spending continued until now we are headed for a number more like $700,000.

Where do we go from here?  First, I feel sorry Matt Dixon, our new city manager, has start his South Ogden career dealing with this problem; but serious cuts do need to take place.  More than just cutting back on the annual Christmas Dinner, but some serious cuts.  I am saddened by the constant lack of fiscal irresponsibility we have seen for nearly three years now.  Every year we have been negative and then balanced it with emergency funds.  When will we wake up?  If I ran my business or my house this way, I would be living on the streets.

I am eager to hear your feelings on this subject.