Canyon County Commissioners met yesterday for a formal public review of budgets vs revenue streams. The picture is pretty bleak. Fee for services streams have all but dried up in certain areas of county government. The only stable revenue stream is the one we all hate the most...property taxes.
Shortfalls are feared to be $6.6 million and may even be worse as we move forward this budget year. The Commishes are to be congratulated for this proactive review of county finances. They now know what has to be done to avoid a financial "train wreck".
This is a severe financial downturn not experienced by local governments in my lifetime. Let's all hope local city governments can figure out what they too have to do to manage their financials.
Sales tax revenues are down 19% and revenue sharing is down 10% on top of the fee for services part of the county budgets. Local cities can't be in much better shape. It will be interesting to see how the mayors of Caldwell and Nampa react to the Canyon County revenue news in the local paper today. Will they take the necessary steps to get out in front of this mess or will they wait for the "train wreck" headed their way.
The days of plentiful tax dollars are at an end for the foreseeable future and along with that reality the days of "bling, baubles, and goodies" are over. Time for our elected officials to show some real leadership in guiding us through this mess.
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