vision2020
RE: voting on government budgets
An interesting thing about living for awhile in new england was the town meeting. Indeed
the budgets were proposed and discussed and approved/disapproved by voice vote.
It was a very good exersize in participatory democracy and is prevalent in the
new england states...
johnt
On Thursday, June 04, 1998 11:08 AM, Robert Probasco [SMTP:rcp@uidaho.edu] wrote:
> On Wed, 3 Jun 1998, John Danahy wrote:
> > Recently, on a trip to New York, I was stunned by the New York State law
> > that required cities, towns, villages, and school districts to submit their
> > yearly budgets to the voters for approval. If the proposed budget fails to
> > get a simple majority, the governing entity must rework it and try again.
> > Or do a last resort bare bones budget.
> > How does everyone feel about this concept?
>
> Nice idea. Most countries, like the USA, entrust a single entity (like
> Congress or the legislature) to collect AND spend public monies. I
> believe Switzerland is different, in that the spending agency is distinct
> from the assessing & collecting agency. Swiss voters decide how much they
> will be taxed, and the government services must be confined to those
> constraints.
>
> Most American communities rarely get to vote directly on a tax increase --
> except for the periodic school bond levy. Imagine what would happen if we
> voters could vent our spleen on other issues: prisons, welfare, university
> salaries and expenditures, state parks, licensing fees, etc.
>
> I can understand why New York presents an all-or-nothing choice to voters.
>
> Bob Probasco rcp@uidaho.edu
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