The Season Of Love And Line Items

In the past week, federal, state, and local governments have each come up with budget proposals, apparently timed in the hope that some of Cupid’s errant arrows loosed on Valentine’s Day this Monday will pierce the hardening hearts of a populace that is growing increasingly skeptical of government’s ability to deliver on its promises of a better life.

The Bush Administration’s federal budget, with more guns and less butter, the Rell Administration’s state budget, with its “tough choices… that everyone will either dislike or immensely hate,” and Newtown’s town and school budgets, with a combined 7.2 percent increase in spending even after millions in cuts from original budget requests, are going to be hard for anyone to love, even with the encouragement of Cupid.

The line items of February reveal either the fidelity or perfidy of the promises of November. While we vote in the fall, some of the toughest political wrangling does not get started until after Groundhog Day, when we finally get to see where winter and our tax dollars are headed. The numbers are laid out in black and white, like the midwinter landscape. We just have to look at them.

Following the budget process can be difficult from afar. Even if we had the time to attend budget hearings in Washington and Hartford, much of the wheeling and dealing is done behind the scenes. The best we can do is remind our federal and state legislators about the issues and programs about which we care most. Call them: Senator Dodd at 800-334-5341, Senator Lieberman at 800-225-5605, Rep Johnson at 202-225-4476, State Senator McKinney at 800-842-1421, and State Reps Wasserman and Hovey at 800-842-1423.

Locally, the process is much easier to follow. Budget meetings and hearings of the Board of Finance, Legislative Council, and the Board of Education are open to the public, and the overall town budget itself is put to a townwide vote.

With all the proposed budget numbers now on the table, the process has begun. Now is the time to pay close attention and to ask questions. Otherwise our prospects for a better life will be — like Cupid’s arrows — hit or miss.