Thought you had no money?

[Texas_Signmaker]

Schools...

Several schools I'm dealing with NEED to spend some $$ before the end of their fiscal year. They are just loading up on signs which are decorating the building and are not necessary... but they HAVE to have invoices in to use up this $$ or it goes back to the state and is long gone. How messed up is this? They are ALWAYS complaining that they have no $$ for our schools, yet they need to spend tens of thousands on "discretionary" signs. Three schools rushed in some major orders this week! I mean, I appreciate the order and will be happy to do it and accept the $$, but this is just backwards weird how their budget works.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

but they HAVE to have invoices in to use up this $$ or it goes back to the state and is long gone.

It's not just with schools. Most budgets like this are based on what you spend. If you don't spend what your given one year, the next year your given less. It's a horrible way to do it, but it's how things are done.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

But why on Earth does this make sense? If one didn't need the money and it gets taken away and they get less next year? Why do government departments run like this?

I guess in the end, I am getting back some of my taxes I paid by way of these orders... so I come out ahead... but still... Something aint right with that.

 

[Billct2]

How about, if they have a surplus at the end of the year, it goes into an emergency fund for the school (or fire dept or public works) so they don't have to come begging for "emergency funds" when something unforeseen happens. That way they don't feel the need to spend it just because they have it.

 

[rossmosh]

A surplus is always a funny thing. People make it sound like it's just schools, but private industry also has them. The Office did an episode which pretty much hit the nail on the head.

Ultimately, the biggest problem is they need to setup some sort of system to prevent spending for the sake of spending so long term projects can be funded by the surplus not grants and special allotments. Even then it's complicated, because if the math dept has a surplus of $1200, it's very likely if it goes into some sort of general fund, the football team will get it. Meanwhile if the math dept just makes the $1200 disappear and even if it's spent inefficiently, at least the dept is reaping the benefits.

 

[equippaint]

Large companies run the same way. It seems dumb but when you get down to it, it is really the best way to go about it. It keeps control of 2 lower level management extremes, those that pinch pennies and wont spend anything and those that overspend. So in a big organization, the higher ups tell you how much you get and what you have to spend it on. This ensures that things are taken care of to a certain standard.

 

[equippaint]

How about, if they have a surplus at the end of the year, it goes into an emergency fund for the school (or fire dept or public works) so they don't have to come begging for "emergency funds" when something unforeseen happens. That way they don't feel the need to spend it just because they have it.

Because they turn around and blow it. Plus they already have emergency funds set aside.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I get it... but when you have stuff like this and other districts need to just spend to get rid of $$...it makes ya wonder..

https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2019/05/14/desoto-isd-school-board-cuts-98-positions-budget-deficit/

 

[iPrintStuff]

Happens to us every year (though it’s march in the uk). Basically people just telling us their budget and asking what they can get!

As far as the budgets are concerned, they’re dealing with it all wrong in my opinion. Which warrants the needless spending. We have schools, hospitals etc basically saying that if they don’t spend the money, they get it subtracted from next years budget. So not only is there not an incentive to save the money, they need to spend it in order to not get screwed next year!

 

[visual800]

if americans ran their households like the state runs their departments, we would all be broke. Whoever came up with this "budget" is an idiot and for them to still adopt this game are all idiots. It makes no sense.

 

[equippaint]

if americans ran their households like the state runs their departments, we would all be broke. Whoever came up with this "budget" is an idiot and for them to still adopt this game are all idiots. It makes no sense.

Yeah, most american households are so responsible with their money. Over 13 trillion in debt, $38k average debt per household EXCLUDING mortgages. I dont recall ever seeing the repo man towing away a city vehicle or the bank foreclosing on a school.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I dont recall ever seeing the repo man towing away a city vehicle or the bank foreclosing on a school.

Do you honestly think that this is handled the same way with local/state assets compared to individual ones?

I would be very surprised if some slight of hand wasn't done to mitigate why you don't seem to recall things like that. I mean you have cities declaring bankruptcy due to outstanding loans. Do you really think there isn't some trouble in paradise?


Now, irresponsible people are going to do irresponsible things. The biggest thing here is that city, state, federal are responsible for a whole lot more then just the individual.

 

[HomeStadiumsScott]

In my full-time job I am a Contracting Officer for the DoD. I write contracts to procure services/supplies for my agency and have been doing it for 10 years this month. I spend lots of your taxpayer funding and have seen some shit that would make your head spin. I hate it for a number of reasons, this reason being one of the highest, so I've been slowly starting my own printing business printing gigapixel photographs from inside of stadiums onto wallpaper for kid's rooms, man caves, etc., hence the reason I'm on this forum. (www.HomeStadiums.com for anyone interested).

In my opinion, the issue is the "punishment" for NOT spending all of your budget. There is zero incentive (truly Z-E-R-O) to get your job done under budget. If you do, you're punished by receiving a smaller budget next year. Totally messed up and makes no sense, but this is how a large majority of big businesses and governments work. As a few of you mentioned, there needs to be some kind of emergency fund that the unspent money goes into that doesn't expire and can be used by that office/branch/agency at any time. Unfortunately for me and my situation, getting this done would truly take an act of congress to change the way it works. That being said, I've lost all hope!

 

[Category5]

In my full-time job I am a Contracting Officer for the DoD. I write contracts to procure services/supplies for my agency and have been doing it for 10 years this month. I spend lots of your taxpayer funding and have seen some **** that would make your head spin. I hate it for a number of reasons, this reason being one of the highest, so I've been slowly starting my own printing business printing gigapixel photographs from inside of stadiums onto wallpaper for kid's rooms, man caves, etc., hence the reason I'm on this forum. (www.HomeStadiums.com for anyone interested).

In my opinion, the issue is the "punishment" for NOT spending all of your budget. There is zero incentive (truly Z-E-R-O) to get your job done under budget. If you do, you're punished by receiving a smaller budget next year. Totally messed up and makes no sense, but this is how a large majority of big businesses and governments work. As a few of you mentioned, there needs to be some kind of emergency fund that the unspent money goes into that doesn't expire and can be used by that office/branch/agency at any time. Unfortunately for me and my situation, getting this done would truly take an act of congress to change the way it works. That being said, I've lost all hope!

I was a DoD employee for 17 years. I’ve personally been tasked with spending $2million in 7 days. It’s not easy to do and still fall within regulation. I always thought it was the most backward way of doing business.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I was a DoD employee for 17 years. I’ve personally been tasked with spending $2million in 7 days. It’s not easy to do and still fall within regulation. I always thought it was the most backward way of doing business.

That explains why I've received several orders from a DoD branch and they call in the morning, I'd give them a quote over the phone and they say "Great, can you send an invoice now so I can pay? Gotta be today!"

 

[mnchstr2k]

Schools...

Several schools I'm dealing with NEED to spend some $$ before the end of their fiscal year. They are just loading up on signs which are decorating the building and are not necessary... but they HAVE to have invoices in to use up this $$ or it goes back to the state and is long gone. How messed up is this? They are ALWAYS complaining that they have no $$ for our schools, yet they need to spend tens of thousands on "discretionary" signs. Three schools rushed in some major orders this week! I mean, I appreciate the order and will be happy to do it and accept the $$, but this is just backwards weird how their budget works.

The Military is the same way, Commanders are (or used to be, been retired for 22 years) rated on getting their budgets to $0.