Hurricane Warning...Let's talk about the Budget!

During the recession businesses have been forced to trim out non-essential niceties and start making the tougher decisions where essential programs must be evaluated against other vital programs. At first the term "trimming the fat" was used to describe staff and resource adjustments, but now we are to the point of "cutting bone" where staff and resources must be carefully evaluated and tougher decisions made. The government instead of making some of these tough decisions on cutting programs often elect to make percentage cuts with less evaluation of what key programs are more important than others.

In the period of time when a natural disaster is impending to the critical days afterward when we are not able to return to our normal lives, is a time when we naturally focus on those things most important to us. It is during these periods of mental acuity that we need to talk about how to focus the budget.

During this time, we are thinking about the basics needed to keep our families safe. Realtors be damned, the value of our homes sky rockets when seen as protection for our family. We are making emergency contingencies to make up for the loss of our critical infrastructure.

Referring back to the thirteen critical infrastructure subjects studied in the 2011 NH infrastructure update, the critical infrastructure  coincides with the way we think in times of crises. First is the safety of our family. So prior to the storm we make contingencies for the loss of power, safety either in our houses or in critical communal facilities such as schools where our families might be temporarily sheltered. As we become concerned with flooding, some may start to wonder whether dams and levies will work as designed and that bridges and culverts will effectively pass the storms without causing blockages that will overflow stream banks and impact our property.

In the aftermath of the storm, we start to focus on when the power will return. Often disasters are measured by how many people lose their power and for how long it is out. The return of power often brings the return of individual water and wastewater systems critical for normal life. Also closely tied to a return to normalcy is the return of the roads and bridges. As trees are cleared, flooding recedes, and professionals have been able to verify the safety of the infrastructure, the return to our routines soon follow.

It is interesting that during natural disasters our infrastructure is closely tied with the basic safety of our families, but it seems that at other times people seldom find time to prioritize infrastructure investment over the many other issues of daily life. Discussions about the funding of infrastructure investment at both the state and federal level routinely draw the comment that the American public will not stomach the costs (taxes, fees, etc.) needed to appropriately fund the investment.

When you consider what is most important to you today in the wake of the storm, write those things down to discuss with your legislators when things get back to normal. The old saying "when everything is important, then nothing is" has been our state of affairs for too long. It is in the clarity of natural disasters that what is most important rises to the surface. Those same things need to be raised to our priorities when we return to normal. As the storm is passing overhead, nobody will care if you are a democrat or a republican.