Fall Out Money

Written by Jay Dunn. Posted in Politics

Each year the gazillion or so government agencies prepare annual reports. These reports detail what they did during the year, how much it cost, how much they need for the coming year and the justifications for what they're asking. When complete and approved by the agency leadership, these reports are passed on to Congress. Congress mulls them over and then goes about allocating funds for the new year. Once an agency knows what they've been allocated, they are able to complete their budgets and off they go.

Now this seems like a reasonable way to go about the job of spending our tax dollars. But there's a curious part of this process that I don't think the average citizen is aware of. Each year around the end of May (the federal government's fiscal year is Oct 1- Sep 30), government agencies start scrambling for Fall Out Money (we'll call it FOM).

What is FOM. FOM is allocated money that for some reason wasn't used and therefore is still "available". There could be many reasons for this phenomenon, but why doesn't really matter. What matters is that there's a surplus of money.

What happens to these funds can best be described as a free-for-all scramble. It's reminiscent of one of those old movies where a department store is having a sale and the ladies are waiting outside by the hundreds. 9:00 arrives, they open the doors and it's run for your life to get out of the way.

Agencies make a grab for this money and basically use it for discretionary spending. "Hmmmm, what do I want?", "We could really use 25 of these.", "They've got a flag pole, now we can have one too.".

OK, maybe this is somehow a good thing. After all we are dealing with a bureaucracy. Maybe this is the only way some agencies can get the things they really need. But I think the reality is that it's done out of fear. The fear that "if I don't spend everything I asked for this year, I won't get it what I ask for next year". It's the golden rule of government, "never leave money on the table".

Regardless of the reason, the simple fact is that every year there is a surplus of funds and every year we're told there is a deficit. I want an accounting...

I don't want to hear about the war or about social security or any other transient issue. This transcends issues. It's been around since Jesus was a corporal and I want the people who represent me in my government to explain it. Before anyone tells me they need additional funding or that my taxes have to be raised, I want FOM explained. I want to know why excess funds can't be saved and re-allocated to next year (or possibly returned to the tax payor? Hah!). It's time that an annual report is made to you and me.