Governments everywhere move to reduce spending

As extreme as the recent actions by the City Council’s new majority might seem, they aren’t as harsh as what is about to take place in C0ngress, the Maryland General Assembly and in many counties throughout the state.

In those governmental arenas, things are going to get ugly. The speed with which the new council majority is acting, for instance, is nothing as compared to what the Republicans in the House of Representatives propose to do this month: approve a 20-point spending reduction plan in the next 20 days.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration already has imposed a two-year pay freeze on federal workers that left the head of the National Federation of Federal Employees saying the same thing that’s being said here: the move will hamper government’s ability to recruit top talent.

At the state level, the commission created to suggest ways to reduce benefit expenses has proposed shifting half the cost of teachers’ pensions back to the counties, ramping up employees’ health insurance contributions and pushing back the retirement age. Another option being floated: converting the state’s retirement program to a 401(k)-style program.

By comparison, what is happening in City Hall is not as bad as it could be, especially since the council’s actions do not affect current employees.

True, the Town of Ocean City does not face the dire financial problems these other governments have, but neither is it insulated from the rest of the country’s problems.

More specifically, it is not insulated from the public mood, which was expressed here in the October election and again in November, when voters declared their feelings on government spending in general.

Right or wrong, fair or unfair, that’s the way it is. The real issue, as always, is not what taxpayers in this or any other area can afford, but what they are in the mood to afford. That mood right now, at least, is not all that charitable.