July 11, 2022
Pocatello For Accountable Government Entities, a local government watchdog group better known as P.A.G.E., urges citizens to speak out and express their concerns about Pocatello’s proposed FY 2023 budget. In a recent social media post, the founders of P.A.G.E. explain the need for Pocatellans to speak to the council:
Rarely does P.A.G.E. offer public comment to the Council. We sit for hours at almost every City Council, Budget and Work Session with little-to-no ability to provide feedback. However, after sitting through many hours of recent budget meetings—particularly the budget meeting on 7/7/22—we finally vented during the evening City Council meeting!
We’re not finished “venting” (limited to 3 minutes speaking time each). The next speaking opportunity will be at the next regular City Council meeting—consider joining us and sharing your thoughts on City spending with the Council!
We believed it necessary to provide Council with a “reality check” and offer them a taxpayer/constituent perspective: a perspective from taxpayers who actually pay for the never-ending annual spending increases proposed by the mayor and approved by the Council.
This is the third budget year P.A.G.E. has witnessed budget discussions with little-to-no consideration of “future impacts” of Council-approved spending. The Council continues to conveniently disregard a City Policy which requires a 5-Year Financial Forecast be provided which projects impacts of decisions made today over the next 5 years—to ensure that those decisions are sound financial decisions for our city. Some Council members simply refuse to even entertain financial questions from other Council members. Regardless, these actions are wrong! And likely, if it continues for much longer, it cannot end well for taxpayers.
Please, consider attending the City Budget meeting on Thursday, July 14, 2022 at 9 a.m. and the next regular Council meeting on July 21, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. for yourselves! Meetings are posted on the City of Pocatello, Agenda Center website under “City Council.” See for yourselves the dysfunction at work and how we taxpayers will likely be “left holding the bag” for mismanagement.
