My first blog...

I realize there are a number of firsts in everyone's lives, including writing a first blog. I must admit it to be a bit more intimidating than I originally suspected, but I'll still go forward.

Winter is finally beyond us, yet in northern Michigan we had a deep freeze last night, getting down to 25 degrees F. Those of us in local government understand how difficult this past winter was, and we're all still questioning how we'll make it through the rest of the fiscal year.

Many local governments are heavily tied to "transportation inflation" and the price of oil, which effects our fuel costs, material costs, steel prices, energy costs, etc. is attacking our budgets at an alarming rate. In fact, in the 24 years that I've been involved as a finance director I have never been this nervous about the future of my local government. With the severity of the past winter, the "transportation inflation", as well as a 17% increase in health insurance in April, our entire winter budget has been spent, and we're a December 31 year end! That means we still have at least 2 months of winter remaining in this fiscal year. While I'm certainly not the smartest guy in the business, I've never had to offer an amendment to our budget this early in the year.

Michigan is a bit different than the rest of the nation, yet still very similar. In Michigan it seems that economic downturns hit here before the rest of the country, and end after everyone else has recovered. In fact, while the rest of the nation seemed to have made a nice recovery until the real estate/mortgage crisis, Michigan's situation has simply worsened, with no recovery felt.

While we will all survive the fiscal crisis we're facing, it's going to take patience, dedication, ethics, and hard work. Keep up the fight, and continue to safeguard the public trust. It certainly can be frustrating working for the public. With decreasing revenue, and skyrocketing costs, public ridicule and public distrust, we need to work even harder than in the past to restore confidence, weather the fiscal storm, and return our local governments to the financial security we worked so hard to achieve in years gone by.

Hoping that summer brings lower fuel costs, a more understanding public, bright sunny days and rainy cool evenings.  Each month on a Sunday morning I will post a new entry, and hope you enjoy it.  I will end my very first blog attempt wishing everyone the best, and looking forward to hearing from each of you in the near future.

Ron