McCroskey: Budgeting is Difficult, but Transparency is Paramount

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One of the more challenging things I recall about being sheriff was the budget process. In every budget I can recall, the commissioners issued some kind of direction; no new positions, cut five percent, things like that.

The direction we received in my first budget was not to ask for more people.  Being new, and wanting to be a team player, I didn’t — even though I felt we needed more deputies.

 Some time later in the next year, at a public meeting, I was asked why we didn’t patrol the east end more? I had the number of calls and where they were located but basically said we didn’t have the staff. The questioner turned to the county commissioner next to me and asked why didn’t they give me more people? 

Without skipping a beat he replied, “because he didn’t ask.”

That was a profound moment in my learning as an elected official and my future budget planning decisions but it affected me in other ways as well.  

The answer, while technically correct, wasn’t completely true either and we should try to be honest with our constituents.

Fast forward to recent local events by two different political bodies.

The first, Timberland Regional Library Board (TRLB) was caught apparently and quietly planning to close libraries in several areas including Randle. They may have good justification financially for a decision like that — I don’t know.  

But doing it in secret was foolish and has damaged their reputation. Perhaps even more damaging was the disclosure of emails silencing concerned staff that wanted to warn the public.  That seems to be beyond foolish at best.

Now, the TRLB, claiming a $700,000 deficit next year, has taken closures off the table while they try to figure out how to cover that deficit.  If their plan includes asking voters for more money, they may find that a tough sell based on their secret closure plans — which on their face appear dishonest.

The other was the push for a transportation tax increase to fund countywide bus service.  If you followed The Chronicle’s online poll asking if people supported the countywide tax for transportation, it was a very high yes. However, as we now know, the actual voters didn’t by nearly the same margin.  

But after the vote, there was the revelation that the argument given by Twin Transit — that if the expansion wasn’t passed, our neighbors in the east end would lose the service they have now — wasn’t in fact true. 



In fact, their service will continue regardless of the vote.  

But it gets worse in my view because now we also know at least some knew that wasn’t true before the vote, and let that rhetoric continue.  

Doug Hayden, the executive director of the nonprofit that operates Lewis Mountain Highway Transit, knew the issue that may have started the discussion had been resolved by the legislature a year ago. Apparently he said nothing, and let County Commissioner Bobby Jackson continue to make that claim. I’m curious why, and maybe the special meeting next week may shed some light on that.

 Commissioner Jackson said he didn’t know and I have no reason to doubt him, but that doesn’t let him off the hook either. He was usually with the director of Twin Transit promoting the tax increase and as a professional in the transit business, it seems to me that guy should have known.

Regardless, the buck stops with the elected officials involved.

So far as I’ve seen everyone denying knowing anything, but there is an effort to get to the bottom of it, which frankly in politics means, find cover. There’s a shorter term for this, but this is a family paper.

So Timberland Regional Library will be $700,000 short next year and have to find a source and at some point the county, that’s bleeding red in spending versus revenue now, will shortly have to make difficult financial decisions as well.  Both may need to come to the taxpayer and ask for help.

Given neither handled these matters well, neither may find a very sympathetic audience trusting them with more money in the future.

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John McCroskey was Lewis County sheriff from 1995 to 2005. He lives outside Chehalis, and can be contacted at musingsonthemiddlefork@yahoo.com.