To The Editor:

A recent discussion from The Citizen involved banter between a resident and a fireman. The resident had publicly made a budget proposal for the department and the fireman responded by stating “you have never handled a budget this size.”

While his statement may be true, in application it is pure baloney mixed with arrogance. To me, the fireman responded to the resident as if he were a child; he spoke down to the resident.

They (government) and their accounting methods and the real world of common sense accounting are like comparing apples to oranges.

They would have us believe their budgets are so complicated it is beyond the intellectual capability of the average person. Hogwash. They tell us they know better how to spend our money than we do. Hogwash. They tell us they spend our money wisely; that is a real whopper!

There are basic accounting methods that are cut-in-stone with the most important being, “you don’t spend more than your resources allow.” In other words you cannot spend what you do not have to spend. If you continuously spend more than you have in any budget you are going to go broke. Geez, isn’t that complicated!

Let’s say a non-fireman resident who understands the basics to budgeting and who is armed with common sense is given the task of handling the fire budget. The first thing he is going to do is find out how much money is in the account. The expenditures he allows over the fiscal period will be determined by legitimate standards and cost effectiveness.

He will administer the fire account as he would his own personal account; he will not spend what he does not have. Wow, isn’t that just too complicated?!

Contemporarily just how does the fire department handle its budget? To answer that lemme tell ya a little story: A man is seeking the services of a CPA and he plans to interview CPAs until he feels comfortable with one that meets his particular “needs.”

He approaches #1 CPA and asks, “How much is two plus two?” #1 answers, “4.” The man thanks him for his time and asks the same of #2.

#2 answers, “4.” The man thanks him for his time and the man then asks #3, “How much is two plus two?” #3 CPA responds, “How much do you want it to be?” Aha, the man has found his CPA! Such is the way of government accounting.

They arrogantly tell us their budget is waaaaay too complicated for our little minds to comprehend. They speak to us as if we are children and they are also responding to us much as we would expect a spoiled child would respond.

Is there a remedy for their behavior? You betcha. You simply tell them as you would any spoiled little brat, “No! You are not allowed to play your money games any longer. You need to follow the rules and you will sit in your little red truck ’til you learn the rules.” Not too complicated, is it?

Keith Kaye

Lehigh Acres