OPINION | So-called ‘deficit’ bigger nothing burger than recent ‘budget crisis’

Tax revenue exceeded budget by 9.77%

’Deficit’ caused by lagging delivery of promised funding

Updated 2/12/2024: Expands on budgeting against receivables.

Editorial

A graphic is being circulated on social media highlighting Mandeville’s general fund “deficit” of a negative $2.38 million, and Mayor Clay Madden is being blamed for his “overspending,” including giving city employees “3 huge” raises.

The people sharing this graphic and pushing the budget crisis narrative are the same usual suspects — pro-Sucette Harbor social media troll Andrew Ellender, mayoral candidate Jeff Lyons, efficiency consultant Glen Runyon, and a few others, including also-rans from previous elections.

It’s based on the City of Mandeville’s “Governmental Funds Report” dated August 31, 2023, marking the close of the fiscal year. There’s a big orange box magnifying the so-called deficit figure.

Sounds pretty bad, right? After all, a deficit is a deficit and it means you’re spending more than you’re taking in.

There’s just one problem… it’s not true.

Just like their sky-is-falling conclusion over a capital outlay hypothetical in the recent auditor’s report, this too is patently false and intellectually dishonest.

Don’t believe me? I’ll prove it.

Let’s take a look at the graphic this handful of people on social media are posting and re-posting, ad nauseam.

Notice the huge orange box containing “$2,375,614.00 Deficit” and its positioning on top of the actual government funds report, specifically toward the upper right of the screen. Doesn’t that placement seem a little odd?

Well as it turns out, this was not by accident. They were hiding something.

The data being covered up by the unnecessarily large orange box actually debunk the false deficit narrative, completely and irrefutably.

Carefully examine the same report below, without obfuscation, but instead with helpful context to show what is actually going on. Don’t take our word for it. Do the math yourself. We’ll let you be the judge.

(Click to download…)

The first thing we notice is, Mandeville’s FY 2023 tax revenue exceeded the budgeted or projected amount by 9.77 percent. And the projected amount, set when creating the FY 2023 budget, was a two-percent increase over the FY 2022 actuals.

So knowing that Mandeville only adopts balanced budgets, where did this “deficit” come from?

Good question.

The answer lies in what Ellender’s graphic was covering up — the shortfall in “Grants Revenue” and “Other Revenue” which includes things like FEMA reimbursements, among other sources.

To date, Mandeville has only received a paltry 35.71 percent of those anticipated funds for FY 2023. The FEMA reimbursements can take years to recoup.

This means there are still millions of dollars in receivables the city is owed. Even if the city doesn’t spend a dime on Ida-related repairs in FY 2023, for example, it can still budget against that receivable.

So critics might ask, what kind of municipality would base their budget on money they haven’t received yet?

The answer is simple: the one with a shit-ton of money in the bank, that’s who.

It’s no different than how individuals in the real world budget their money. There are those who live paycheck-to-paycheck, and then there are those who are financially responsible and have plenty of money in the bank — like the City of Mandeville.

Mandeville is in such a strong position financially, we are able to do the things that really count and truly grow our city, without borrowing money, cutting services, or any other form of a compromise just because a hurricane hits and FEMA is slow to pay us back. How many other municipalities can say that?

Madden and this City Council did what the previous administration had only kicked down the road for eight years.

In the ultimate irony, it was Runyon — the chief Madden critic today — who authored the 2020 Mandeville Efficiency Study, which revealed Madden was handed an employee morale issue from the Villere years where pay remained generally flat. That study helped lead to a salary survey, and eventually a pay scale overhaul to help Mandeville attract and keep the best people among its municipal neighbors.

This is how Mandeville grows. Not by building some monstrosity on the lakefront that will forever ruin our scenic character and only bring in a token $74,000 a year to the city.

Some members on this very council along with a certain mayoral candidate and their trolls on social media see only misery and despair in what by any honest assessment are good things and are the residue of hard work and responsible leadership.

This cabal that we wrote about in our special series Sucette Harbor Exposed and our recent opinion piece about the fake budget crisis wishes to return the old guard to power so they can finish what they started — Sucette Harbor and God only knows what else.

Winning an election is obviously more important than preserving Mandeville’s character or producing real quality growth.

Ask yourself… isn’t Mandeville worth saving from these people?

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