A Winning Hand

In 2009

Here we are starting a new year.

I just hung up the phone after speaking with a Buffalo resident, one who has faced Buffalo Oklahoma’s ups, downs, and problems for over 60 years, but can’t ever remember a time when this Town faced so many critical issues as what 2009 brings to the table.

The cards are being dealt and we’re all wondering who will have the winning hand in 2009, the citizens or Buffalo leaders?

Looming over everything of course is the state of the economy; governmental bodies all across the state and nation will be biting the bitterest budget bullet in 2009 since the days of the depression. Maybe we should fold this particular hand.

Then there is the Municipal Water Treatment Facility and upgrades being implemented in 2009 which are set to cost... who knows how much? We’ll go ahead and play this poker hand, awaiting the flop draw.

The sewer pond issue is so great the Town Board of Buffalo is set to hold public meetings about the issue and is expecting thousands to attend.... Hold on. Wait just a minute. Sorry, I’m wrong. Dead wrong. This Buffalo resident with whom I just spoke is of the opinion the Town will do as it has done for the last six decades when it comes to keeping the Town’s citizenry informed: Nothing. Tacit. No public meetings, no articles in the newspaper, no hearings, and no public input . Well, there is the Town Board meeting held monthly, for the time being at the Library, on Wednesday evenings. But that is, after all, the only responsibility to Buffalo’s residents. The first card on the flop is a 4 of clubs. Geesh.

Perhaps most ominous of all — and something that has been relegated to the fringes of public consciousness is the Public Trust¹ formed for the enhancement of the Town of Buffalo. In the hands of our public trustees is the most formidable tool a public body, like Buffalo, can possess. The news of the trust has been pushed into a corner. With many persons not understanding what it is and what it can accomplish, there seems to be little interest in it. The trust was an idea long discussed but never acted upon. With the encouragement of an actuary* the trust was created. Yes! The Town of Buffalo has an actuary. This actuary is recommending ways to develop solutions! The next card dealt is an Ace.

A change in accounting procedures is what’s needed in 2009. This change would allow for the Town of Buffalo to comply and operate in accordance with The Municipal Budget Act (Title 1, sections 17-201-17-218) passed for use by Towns all across the State establishing fiscal practices requiring greater financial disclosure for the public and investors and allowing for municipalities to improve and implement generally accepted standards of financial management. Next card: 9 of diamonds.

The Town must improve it’s accounting and budgetary practices in 2009 to facilitate the usage of the new Buffalo Public Trust, which has yet to be funded or put into use.

We still, however, have a real dilemma and it’s debatable whether this hand we, the tax payers have been dealt, is a winning one or not. Further complicating things is the fact that the expenses the Town of Buffalo currently have now and will continue to incur to repair infrastructure, maintain quality facilities, and keep the Town running smoothly are transferred expenses. Aw shucks, terrible draw and terrible hand.

The Town is transferring expenses which should have been calculated into the Town’s budgets owed by its citizens of then, not today’s and tomorrow’s. The Town is transferring expenses which should have been budgeted and paid for by the previous decade(s) of residents, to today’s taxpayers. We today are forced to pay the necessary costs to keep Buffalo’s infrastructure, not just maintained to current condition but — BIG BUT, we have to pay the costs of rebuilding that which is crumbling and disintegrating because of the hackneyed modus operandi and failure to address the future needs of the community. We fold.

Looks like the leaders hold all the winning cards and today’s homeowners and taxpayers get the royal flush, right down the toilet and into Buffalo’s troublesome sewer ponds.

Today’s taxpayers receive higher water and sewer statements every month because of lack of maintenance. Today’s citizens have the pleasure of paying higher sales taxes. Today’s community members, glumly, pay higher personal taxes, property taxes and other forms of fees and taxes to meet the needs of today.

Our Town treasurer recently announced that Buffalo has some money put aside, invested in CD’s, due to the smart thinking of former Town leaders. Wouldn’t it have been better to have repaired the Town’s infrastructure?

...to maintain the Water Treatment Facility?

… to maintain our roads, streets, and alleys at yesteryears prices?

...to, to, to think about the burden being placed on future generations by NOT having vision?

...to have put a little away for a rainy day while maintaining status quo?

Leaders win this hand.

The next hand is up to the residents of Buffalo - play and pay — or fold?

*Actuary: an actuary in this case instant is knowledgeable in evaluating the financial implications of contingencies, requiring an understanding of the stochastic nature of risk inherent in assets and the use of statistical models.

1 - "Trusts for Furtherance of Public Functions," Oklahoma Public Trust Act, enacted in 1951—60 O.S. 176 et seq., as amended, authorizes the creation of trusts with any municipality as beneficiary and authorizes these public trusts to issue debt obligations and provide funds for the furtherance of any approved purpose .

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