In for his second visit came Preston Trigg. He's the director of administration and special projects. His goal this time, to teach us Mass Communication students the art of reading a budget.
Preston had a lot of good information to tell us. He first explained to us about government agents having budgets and how they are all public record in the state of Florida. This makes sense that every government agency has a budget considering they spend and receive money. I just never really thought about
it. When you hear about 9 dollar cheesecakes, as of late, it sort of slips your mind that the government actually follows a budget.The budgets, as Mr. Trigg explained, can help uncover corrupt behavior amongst the government officials. It's human nature to be corrupted by power and money. Well what do most government officials tend to have access to? Both power and money. Keeping the budgets public record keeps them in place (to an extent), and creates a nice check and balance to the system.
As with most budgets, you can't spend more than you're bringing in. This goes the same for the government (at least the local government). Revenue comes in through sales taxes, property taxes, fines, parking tickets, utility payments, grants, business tax, and any other way they can possibly try to get their hands on our money. In my opinion we don't give enough money to the government, but I digress. Budgets are in most cases done every fiscal year which starts October 1st and ends September 30th.
Going into class I was completely unaware about bond referendums. They contribute to revenue, that are loans to government from citizens that eventually are paid back with interest.
Mr. Trigg spoke to us about being aware of spikes in revenue through water bills and property taxes. If these go up, there's usually something fishy needing to be checked. When taxes are raised, people will want an explanation. When utilities go up without any explanation, a job of a reporter is to find out why.
The most complicated part of the presentation is coming so Mass Communication students who get queasy whenever math or formulas are brought up, it may be time to cut this read early. Don't worry, i wont be offended.
Mr. Trigg taught us about the mileage property tax system. All homes are taxed through whatever they are appraised at. One mil is the same thing as one tax dollar for every one thousand dollars the home is worth. Most counties set the mil for property tax, but the homestead exemption changes this. It lowers value by 50,000 dollars for tax purposes. This has caused property taxes to plummet. According to Trigg, this is killing the counties' budgets.
Just a quick review:
If the tax rate is 5 mils and the property value is $1,000, the owner would pay $5 dollars on $1,000. If the tax rate is 10 mils and the property value is $100,000 the owner would pay $1,000.
Budgets can be a useful tool for any good reporter. It can be at time very complicated if you don't know how to use it. However,with the proper knowledge, and getting over the initial fear off all those intimidating number, it will guide people in the direction of corruption. With times as tough as it's been financially,wouldn't you like to know where your money is going? Budgets give the public the tools to check on politicians and make sure they're using our hard earned money for the betterment of the city, state, or country.
Until next time, work a budget, save your money.....
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