South Ogden turning around budget woes with $82,000 reduction | Standard-Examiner

As many of you know I am a debt-free geek.  I hate seeing even local government in debt.  So when I hear the city is looking to pay down it's own debt, I get very happy.  Last weeks city council meeting, Steve Liebersbach explained to the council how South Ogden has been able to reduce their budget by $82,000 and they are still pushing for more.  The shortfall is now looking at 2.2 percent and hopefully things will get better.  Gentry Reinhart, Standard Reporter, has a nice synopsis of the meeting in today's Standard Examiner (See Here). This is great news! However the one item I wanted to bring up was the infamous Gym Facility.  Apparently we came in under budget on the construction, so a little money is left over.

Regarding the agreement the city entered into for the gymnasium at the new South Ogden Junior High, Liebersbach informed officials that payments to the school district were complete with $80,000 to $100,000 remaining in the construction fund the city set aside for the new facility.

The city plans to apply those funds toward debt service on the initial bonds issued for the project, which in turn reduces the amount that would be transferred from the general fund to the debt service fund.

"This will also help out the city in regards to moving forward for this year and for next year," Liebersbach said.

What Mr. Reinhart failed to mention in his article, is the city isn't planning to really pay down the debt.  They are paying down so they can skip or make lower payments than originally scheduled.  Meaning we are actually robbing Peter to pay Paul.  We are taking left over cash, paying down a debt so we can skip a payment.  That is like taking one credit card and paying off another to avoid making that months payment.  In the end you still have to make the payments in full.  So we are really no where closer to paying of this revenue sucking gym facility aka basketball court.

Nice. Gotta Love Debt.