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"Never spend your money before you have it."
- Thomas Jefferson
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The Jefferson City Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department, already outspending its generous budget this year, wants to spend our tax money at an even faster rate.
It's not a good idea.
As we reported Wednesday, the city's Parks and Recreation Commission is moving forward with a plan to borrow between $7 million and $8 million through Special Obligations Improvement Bonds.
Borrowing the money would allow the department to implement its 20-year parks system master plan quicker.
Projects on the plan include everything from a botanical garden to a new Ellis-Porter/Riverside Park ampitheater. Never mind that the current one isn't well-utilized. We can still use the "built it and they will come" argument, right? The bonds also would improve Community and McClung parks.
The department has an annual budget of more than $8 million and already is deficit spending by nearly $1 million this year. Parks Director Todd Spalding said that's typical, and that the department should be close to a balanced budget by year's end.
Over the years, our parks department and commission have built an enviable system of parks, greenways, ball fields, a multipurpose building, and even a much-improved golf course. We've praised the department for such achievements in the past.
Would we like more parks amenities to be developed quicker? Sure.
But taxpayers, we would prefer to see some fiscal restraint. We see nothing urgent enough to warrant borrowing.
Financial advisers teach individuals and families to get out of debt and stay out of debt. Barring an urgent need, that's good advice for government as well.
One downside to borrowing is that the money will have to be repaid, with interest. That means that while the parks department will have more money to spend now, it will have less to spend later. It's also less in the long run, since borrowers are paying for the privilege.
When that happens in government, guess who often gets asked to shore up the difference?
News Tribune