Christopher Summers is the president of the Maryland Public Policy Institute, a conservative think tank that focuses on state public policy issues. He spoke with The Examiner about budget surpluses and why taxpayers should care.
Is having a budget surplus a sign of good fiscal policy?
Sure, it can be, but you also have to look at what the revenue is generated from. It?s tax on residents. Maybe the tax policy is too aggressive. Impact fees and transfer fees are supposed to cover infrastructure, but if it?s not being spent on that, it?s a fiscal shell game. They are scamming the taxpayer. Long-term fiscal planning should ensure there is neither a surplus or a deficit.
How should the money be spent?
Obviously politicians love to come up with their wish list of what they want to spend in times of surpluses. Those lists get long.
It should be put aside. Practicing strong fiscal responsibility [is] using taxpayer dollars as efficiently as possible and looking forward. In the ?90s, things were great, but in reality, in 10 years from now, we could be hurting.
Now with the $400 million budget gap in Montgomery County, the executive is looking at reorganizing departments and shuffling things around. It goes back to the need for performance audits and looking at these efficiencies.
Wealthier jurisdictions lost first. Montgomery County is the economic driver of the state and a wealthy housing district.
Why should taxpayers care?
It affects regular folks immensely. [Local governments] can?t run deficits, and so they have to have balanced budgets. They will go back to the taxpayers. They should always pay attention to what their local tax burden is.
