Sticking to the Budget in Richardson

Last week, when I looked at the 2013-2014 budget for the City of Richardson, I pronounced it balanced. Revenues exceeded expenditures, without relying on that sneaky asterisk "plus reserved fund balance, and other funding sources." That made two years in a row where Richardson put forward a truly balanced budget. I pronounced that good.

But of course, a budget is only as good as one's ability to stick to it. So, today, let's take a look at how the City of Richardson is living up to its 2012-2013 budget that it adopted a year ago this month. The fiscal year isn't quite over, so we have look at estimates. Luckily for us, page 22 of the 2013-2014 budget presentation contains the estimates for 2012-2013. Putting that side by side with last year's budget, we get what we're looking for... after the jump.

The Invisible War (2012)

IMDB

The Invisible War (2012): Culture of rape in US military. Victims are blamed. Rapists are not prosecuted. Shameful. Shameful. Shameful. A+

Hyde Park on Hudson (2012)

IMDB

Hyde Park on Hudson (2012): FDR mothered by houseful of women. Intimate look at bigger than life man. Downton Abbey in a funhouse mirror. B-

S2L77: Khyber Pass

From 1977 03 17 Pakistan

On to Afghanistan. The road from India and Pakistan to Central Asia leads through the Khyber Pass, the fabled route of trade and conquest for thousands of years. The Silk Road came through here. So, too, did the Persian army under Darius the Great, the Greek army under Alexander the Great, and the Mongol army under Genghis Khan. In 2001, the US military launched an attack on the nearby mountain caves of Tora Bora, Osama bin Laden's base in that most recent war.

Even in 1977, before the recent decades of war broke out, the route through the Khyber Pass was barely safe. The territory was controlled by warlords as much as by the central governments of Afghanistan or Pakistan. Travelers were warned to start their journey early in the morning in order to be safely in Kabul by nightfall. And not to leave the road for any reason.

More photos after the jump.

Fufu and Juju

My nephew has just taken up a year-long assignment running a private, non-profit, fee-free secondary school in a village in Ghana. The coastal setting is Club Med spectacular. The living conditions... not so much.

Judging from the few emails he's managed to send, it sounds like he will have plenty of stories to tell. I hope he decides to write a book. After the jump, an excerpt, just a small part of a larger story, from one email. It's been lightly edited for clarity and anonymity (best let students themselves tell these stories to their parents).

OTBR: A View of Ballarat's Mt. Helen

Latitude: S 37° 38.394
Longitude: E 143° 48.414

A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

Richardson's Budget - Black or Red?

If you've been a regular reader of this blog for more than a couple of years (I'm deeply sorry) then you know of my quest for a "balanced budget." Each year, Richardson claims to have a "balanced budget," yet often expenditures exceed revenues. What gives?

Last year, when I last explored this subject, I came to two conclusions.

First, that Richardson considers the budget to be balanced if expenditures are less than revenues plus reserved fund balance, and other financing sources.

Second, that over a multi-year cycle that reserved fund balance sometimes has a surplus that can be drawn down, and sometimes it doesn't. So, even with the more common dictionary definition of balanced budget, one that doesn't consider reserved fund balances, Richardson's budget is cyclically balanced, even if year by year it might run slight deficits or surpluses.

Still, my hope each year is this will be a year in which Richardson doesn't rely on reserved fund balances to make up for an excess of expenditures over revenues. Whether or not it deserves as much attention as I give it, I can't help taking a sneak peek at those bottom line revenue and expenditure numbers.

After the jump, that sneak peek. Revenues vs expenditures. Black or red. Which is it?

No Storming the Castle in Richardson

King Arthur: If you will not show us the Grail, we shall take your castle by force!

French Soldier: You don't frighten us, English pig-dogs! Go and boil your bottoms, son of a silly person! Ah blow my nose at you, so-called "Arthur Keeeng"! You and all your silly English Knnnnnnnn-ighuts!!!

Source: Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

If you substitute a Richardson rental house inspector for King Arthur and a give-me-liberty-or-give-me-death type renter for the French soldier, you'd have pretty much the scene that played out in the courts and the Richardson city council recently.

After the jump, the city council's retreat.

Detropia (2012)

IMDB

Detropia (2012): Scenes from the hollowing out of a great American city, Detroit. No politics, no preaching, no prescriptions, no hope. C+

Repeat Tweets: "A Bucket o' Business"

Repeat tweets from July, 2013:

• 2 Jul 2013: RT @AngieChenButton: "Perry to announce future plans on Monday." Future plans. That's the best kind of plans.
  
• 8 Jul 2013: "No rocky coast, no sylvan hiking paths, no loons, whales, etc. Just a bucket o' business and a booming economy." globalperspective.bangordailynews.com
  
• 8 Jul 2013: What's it say about me that Facebook suggests I might like the TV show, "My Favorite Martian?"
  
• 8 Jul 2013: RT @BudKennedy: "@TomPauken says @GregAbbott_TX is from an 'Austin that has grown stale with insiders.'" If anyone knows stale, it's Pauken.
  
• 8 Jul 2013: Headline: "Stefani Carter announces bid for Railroad Commissioner." That's why she favored gas fracking near homes. trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.