It started March 19 when Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Rick Smith asked for a 10-percent increase to his budget.
It likely ended March 19 when Smith used the nuclear two-word phrase “tax increase” as a possible way to pay for the $34 million budget boost he was seeking for school improvements, everything from added elementary art and foreign language classes to across-the-board raises.
It officially ended last week when county Mayor Jim Coppinger asked Smith for a new budget with no increases.
In between, the narrative bounced around as tones and tensions elevated.
Jay GreesonGallons of ink were spilled and a ton of consternation spent weighing the value of public education against the concerns of those on fixed incomes against elected officials worrying about political fallout.
So as the 2016 county budget begins to take shape, the first reaction is this is an overwhelming win for the county mayor, who almost assuredly was aware of Smith’s intentions early on. He took the temperature of the moment, listened to all sides and made a decision. Whether or not you agree with that decision, the governance of the moment was sound.
Plus, for good measure, he yanked the county commissioners’ chains with his overhaul of their individual $100,000 spending accounts in next year’s proposed budget.
As for Smith, well, the final score says he lost. He took his shot and it got swatted back.
Here’s saying that the only real misstep Smith made was offering up the dreaded phrase “tax increase” right out of the chute. Smith’s request made a lot of sense, and the timing was perfectly appropriate. It’s been almost a decade since the last property tax increase, and this is the first budget cycle of the new County Commission.
But those two words turned the discussion from whether people support public schools toward the need for increased taxes amid a growing disdain of government infringement.
After a review of the process that generated no fewer than two dozen newspaper stories, countless soundbites and a fair amount of questions about the direction and dedication of the county’s commitment to public schools, one conclusive fact emerges.
Tax increase. It’s the two-word policy equivalent to bubonic plague. Tax increases are viewed somewhere way back of root canals and insurance seminars on the popularity scale. Period. There’s a well-founded belief that throwing more money at government — no matter the nobility of the cause — is a mistake. Think $400 toilet seats at the federal level down to the perceived back-scratching on the local front.
Why Smith didn’t put the fundraising dilemma on the commission and Coppinger seems puzzling after the fact. They embrace holding the purse strings; let them embrace trying to loosen them for public education.
Again, that’s hindsight, where everything is in focus.
This also is clear: The rest of Smith’s approach had its merits.
He fought for his cause and his people. He took the message to the public and was upfront and clear — an approach that deserves respect. He refused to get into verbal altercations and stayed on message.
It’s his personal fight to make the schools as good as he can.
Still, the outcome was empty. The school budget and those who crafted it were left celebrating the fact that nothing was cut. And at a time when cuts are commonplace, that is something.
It’s difficult to give Smith a final grade. He actually got more than he asked for — by about $6 million — and his employees got raises.
Will this process set the groundwork for another go next year? Maybe.
If he attaches “tax increase” to it from the beginning, though, we now know how that will turn out.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and follow him on Twitter at @jgreesontfp. You can read his online column the “5-at-10” Monday through Friday at timesfreepress.com after 10 a.m.