“WHAT’S ON THE table?” can be a two-sided question.
What’s on the table for dinner — and what’s on the table for possible removal from the family budget?
Observers shake their heads in wonderment over some choices.
In extreme cases, parents spend their food money on a Christmas tree, their rent money on presents, then seek relief from food banks and charitable agencies such as Olympic Community Action Programs and Serenity House of Clallam County, where I work in the administrative office.
They don’t get a financial bailout unless there are extenuating circumstances, according to Shirley Anderson, the Serenity House deputy director who oversees the housing resource centers where people can apply for help to prevent becoming homeless.
Instead, staff counsels them on spending priorities.
“Gifts can be homemade,” Anderson said, and local charities and service clubs generously provide for children living in poverty.
The Salvation Army’s required advance registration to receive Christmas gifts closes at 11:45 a.m. today, Dec. 11 (call 360-452-7769), allowing time to post requests on Angel Trees in area businesses.
Donated Christmas trees often are leftovers delivered on Christmas Eve, “after most families that want a tree already spent money they didn’t have to buy one,” said Cindy Burdine, Serenity House deputy director of family programs.
This year, needy families may receive a tree two weeks before the holiday, thanks to a “turkey bowling” activity at the Sequim Home Depot store on Saturday, Dec. 12.
“If they knock down the pins, we’ll donate a tree for a needy family,” said Brendan Moran.
A tree may seem like a frippery, but it “gives a sense of normalcy” to children of families in unstable circumstances, Burdine said.
Government spending choices also cause wonderment.
Programs that had to be “on the table” for elimination were state need-based financial grants for higher education students, and the entire Basic Health insurance and General Assistance Unemployable programs, Gov. Chris Gregoire warned before submitting a proposal for a budget balanced within existing revenue, as required by state law.
“Let me be clear — I do not support this budget,” she said of her proposal which “while balanced is unjust.”
Gregoire proposed further subtractions from higher education, subsidized health insurance, supervision of released criminals and other social safety nets that were reduced in 2009 budget due to a $9 billion deficit.
Gregoire’s antipathy for her own proposal reflects her awareness that many of the cuts she proposed would result in more expenses than savings.
For example, the state can spend money now to adequately supervise released former felons’ return to society, or it can spend far more money later to clean up the mess after they reoffend.
Nevertheless, Gregoire was required to propose cuts to deal with a one-year revenue shortfall of $2.6 billion.
“Because of our continuing economic troubles, state revenue is down,” wrote Gregoire.
She will submit another budget to the Legislature in January, “more reflective of our values.”
Meanwhile, the governor wrote, “I am reviewing tax exemptions and considering new sources of revenue.”
If justifying tax hikes is one’s goal, Gregoire’s proposed budget makes sense.
On the other hand, if balancing the budget is one’s goal, the budget knife should be aimed at programs where costs exceed benefits, not at cost-effective social services.
Gregoire has made a good start by eliminating a number of optional boards and commissions.
To contribute significantly toward balancing state and local budgets, she should add the Growth Management Hearings Boards to her list.
The state court system, which now hears appeals of Hearings Boards’ decisions, would become the entry point for cases that raise critical Growth Management Act issues.
Having to go to court would significantly reduce the volume of cases filed for ideological reasons, such as Futurewise’s mass appeals of land use regulations in counties across the state, including Clallam.
Appeals by entities such as this Seattle-based activist group are filed without having to demonstrate that the laws they challenge have any direct negative impact on them or on the environment, while running up millions of dollars of costs to counties, cities and citizens.
Why weren’t the Hearings Boards on Gregoire’s list of programs that had to be on the table?
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Martha Ireland was a Clallam County commissioner from 1996 through 1999 and is the secretary of the Republican Women of Clallam County.
She and her husband, Dale, live on a Carlsborg-area farm. Her column appears Fridays.
E-mail her at irelands@olypen.com.