County budget system is lousy

It’s budget time again, and some familiar patterns have already surfaced.
In a world in which Indiana government functioned perfectly, the county council would gather for a few meetings every summer. It would scrutinize departmental budgets closely, not settling for fuzzy details. And once the budgets were approved, there’d be almost no reason for the council to meet again until the following summer.
But that’s not what happens.
Instead, department heads submit budgets that — instead of being based on true needs — are based upon the previous year’s budget plus an arbitrary percent of increase.
And instead of truly dissecting those budget proposals, county councils arbitrarily cut.
Why cut? Because that forces the department heads — especially those who have been honest about their budget needs — to return throughout the new year to ask for additional appropriations.
That way, county council is able to posture as budget-cutters in the summer, then hold onto the purse strings for the entire next year while individual department heads come to them as supplicants, asking for a few more dollars.
That’s the way it’s been for decades.
It makes for great politics: Righteous budget-cutting followed by benevolent additional appropriations.
But it’s a lousy way to govern. — J.R.