Maybe Madison's City Council Could Learn Something
This entry was posted on 9/11/2009 11:21 AM and is filed under Madison.
The hockey rink that the UW was planning on building to house the women's team events and a permanent practice area for the men's team
might not get built. The reason? Lack of funding. UW athletic director Barry Alvarez's beautiful quote:
"If we don't have it by the end of this year, we're not going to build it," he said. "We're not going to put a shovel in the ground unless
we've raised 'X' amount of dollars. We're not going to deplete our reserve."
Really? Someone in Madison who knows what the phrase "fiscal responsibility" means? How shocking. Of course, Barry Alvarez, unlike our City Council, has to work within a budget; if he goes over budget, he has a lot harder of a time justifying it to the people who are going to need to cough up the money (in this case, private donors).
The City Council, on the other hand, has TIF funds to use, and can always just increase taxes or bump up fees (also known as passing the buck; see also: Madison Metro fare increase). And if they do go over budget (not that they'd ever do that), they can always pray for rich donors to give them a bailout, or liquidate their reserves to pay for their mistakes - you know, that thing that Barry Alvarez doesn't want to do. Because he understands how a budget actually works.
