This first week went by very quickly as every day was filled with sorting, inventory and organization. District 1, Logan County Commission, has completed putting together their new leadership team and would like to introduce the following: Wayne Murphey, Deputy Commissioner; Heather Dudek, Executive Assistant and Scott True, Road Superintendent. Please don’t hesitate to call with questions or issues at 405 282-3581 or come by and visit in person at 2315 SW 19th St, Guthrie OK 73044.
County Commissioner District 1 Marven Goodman
If you can remember a time before microwave ovens, then you probably remember the oil fields of Oklahoma drying up back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. The Oil Bust of the late 70’s was hard on a lot of Oklahoma families, small businesses, savings & loans, politicians and county commissioners. While I do not expect this latest downturn in the oil industry to precipitate the same set of events as those in the past, I do believe that history clearly shows we should expect and prepare for a decrease in oil tax revenue.
Our State Treasurer recently indicated that current gross production collections won’t reflect these lower oil prices until February and that current collections are reflective of higher October prices. This will also be the same timeframe that the new sales tax revenue will start showing up. I am concerned as our county’s budget growth, year over year, continues to outpace its yearly allocated revenue, and without significant spending from cash accounts would not be able to maintain this overall growth. Yes, it seems we are spending our savings while increasing all budgets. This unsustainable growth is also known in the financial world as a bubble, and given year over year periods of decreasing revenue streams, that bubble will pop once the cash accounts evaporate (hospital fund, jail trust, etc).
So before this discussion degenerates into the standard “not enough revenue” verses “too much government spending,” it is good that we remember we are here to provide services to the residents and citizens of our county. These services are not in question, they are valid and legitimate, and some are guaranteed by the State Legislature, while others by the State Constitution. It is not the legitimacy of the government provided services that need to be examined; it is in the method the government chooses to provide those services where waste is continually introduced into government process.
My grandfather was a Goldwater Republican and was fond of saying that if a government bureaucrat gave himself a blood transfusion from one arm to the other he would die from loss of blood in the process. I took that to mean the more a government directly involves itself in the production and delivery of services the more wasteful services become. In the coming weeks and months I intend to focus my attention on the processes and procedures we use in county government to provide critical services.
Next time I will provide an update on road projects in the districts, new District 1 website, and our upcoming town hall meeting.
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