Earlier
this month, a KEEL radio talk show host noticed essentially duplicate signs
along stretches of highway. She made inquiries to the Department of
Transportation and Development, and received explanations from both the regional
spokeswoman and the department Secretary himself, Shawn Wilson. They said signs
could need better reflective qualities at night or font changes, but she noted
no font changes and wondered why reflectivity changes could not occur on the
existing signs, saving at least some money.
Shreveport area legislators weren’t amused when
contacted about this. They expressed skepticism that the money needed to be
spent, and one conjectured that the funds for this came from federal grant
money that it would have to use or lose.
This demands review by the Legislative Auditor to understand
the rationale behind the expense that gives additional information to legislators
for future budgeting decisions. More importantly, it should spur an agenda to
review how CARES Act and other separate federal government pandemic aid to
Louisiana ended up used. That Act alone shoveled
around $1.8 billion to the state with much spent on balancing and enlarging
the state’s operating budget, and another portion shunted to local governments
which an Auditor’s report
reveals face financial pressures.
Unfortunately, such largesse creates perverse
incentives. As an example,
with such money in hand, in order to maintain full staffing levels with pay the
Fairfax, VA schools, which have gone to an all-online instruction format during
the pandemic, have school buses running empty and cafeteria workers sitting
idly at home.
Rather than make meaningful cuts to wasteful programs
– subsidizing
movie-making, paying
people to work less and less productively, and giving
people health insurance they can afford on their own spring to mind as
obvious areas to trim or eliminate – Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards
just loaded in more spending despite the revenue hit the state will take from
the pandemic’s negative economic impact (exacerbated by Edwards’
scientifically inexplicable refusal to cede control over the economy).
Foolishly, Republican legislative majorities agreed to this budgeting fiasco,
although they may repair that with a specialsession starting soon.
However, they can compensate partially for this
mistake by having the auditor vet carefully state and local expenditures of
these funds. While they can do little to stop funds from going out the door,
the promised transparency with an eye towards pointing out flagrantly wasteful
practices may modify executive agencies’ and local governments spending choices,
knowing that they may receive budgetary punishment in the future if caught
spending stupidly.
CARES Act money could have gone towards shoring up
Louisiana’s unemployment compensation fund, imminently
approaching a zero balance, that instead will require increased taxes and
reduced benefits, or on any of a number of other needed items. Anything that
would discourage money from going out the door needlessly before year’s end
will save taking unnecessarily from taxpayers in the future.
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