Wednesday, May 4, 2022

LOVE Opinion: TMRB Spending and Resident Strategic Needs Are Not In Balance

TMRB Spending and Resident Strategic Needs Are Not In Balance
This is LOVE’s fourth article on the Town Managers Recommended Budget (“TMRB”) for fiscal 2023. Our first article was an overview of the TMRB. Our second article was an overview of TMRB recommended spending on town day-to-day operations. The third article was our overview of TMRB recommended spending on facilities and infrastructure. This article focuses on the relationship between TMRB recommending spending of $159 million in fiscal 2023 and the strategic importance of each area spending to the residents of Oro Valley. 

Based on our analysis, there is an imbalance between the two. That is, there are some areas that are strategically critical to residents that are receiving far less funding than other areas that are less critical and of less strategic importance.

We define an area to be strategically important if it is absolutely essential
In other words, the residents of the town could not exist without it. There are two, perhaps three of these. One is the Police Department. The other is the Water Department. Residents could not survive for long without these two operations running at peak efficiency. The third is Public Works. Public Works keeps our roads in top condition but are not quite as strategically important as making sure we have water to drink.

There are other areas that are nice to have and certainly make living in Oro Valley attractive but are not critical to making sure that the residents of this town have the essential services they need. These are Parks and Culture and General Administration. This is not to say that is not nice to have these non essential operations. It means that investment in these ought to be done with great consideration and thought if, in any way, spending on them does or could impinge on insuring that Oro Valley has sufficient funds and borrowing capacity for the critical operations we need today and in the future.

There should be alignment between Oro Valley spending and strategic needs
The panel [above right] shows total spending as recommended by the town manager. Total spending includes spending on operations plus one time spending on facilities. Water is planned to receive the largest share of total spending. This makes sense. Water is strategically important to the residents of Oro Valley because they cannot survive without it. Police protection is also strategically critical to the residents of the town; but recommended police spending is a very small share of total spending. Parks and Culture, on the other hand, are receiving a substantial share of total spending. Yes. Parks are nice to have in a community. But they are not essential. 

Bringing it together
The chart at left depicts the relationship between the essential nature of a program and the amount of money proposed to be spent on that program in the TMRB. 

Spending in areas inside of the green rectangle are in balance.  Areas outside these rectangles are out of balance either because they receiving far more or far less in spending given their strategic importance to the residents.

It's a matter of opinion
Our analysis is subjective. It’s our opinion. That is why we labeled this article an "opinion." You may have a different opinion and you are welcome to share it with us on our Facebook page.

LOVE will report about the TMRB as it moves through the review process. Next: The Oro Valley Town Council will study it on May 11 and 12th.
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