$400,000? Pocket change

It's so rare that I agree with IlliniPundit (OK unprecedented) that I almost find myself choaking on my own partisan bile. But his take on the Champaign County Nursing Home's latest money problems pretty much mirrors my own opinion.

Is anyone at the County level capable of keeping track of these budgets and working to address these situations before it becomes necessary to borrow almost a million dollars?

I'm maybe not quite as outraged as IP, because I can see some of the excuses they are making have merit. But not all that much merit.

For instance, Thursday's News-Gazette reports

The nursing home administrator, Andrew Buffenbarger, who took over the job from Jeremy Maupin in August, inherited the money trouble.
Buffenbarger, 30, submitted a budget amendment on Oct. 6 that asked for an increased appropriation of $930,060. Part of the cost increase was in higher personnel costs caused in part by the transition from Maupin to Buffenbarger.
Another part of the equation was an error in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund rate. Maupin's previous budget had the rate at 5.55 percent, which was outdated, Frerichs said. The actual rate was 8.13 percent.

OK. I can agree that could be a problem. And it could be a problem that's not really the fault of Buffenbarger.

But they waited until it was necessary to borrow as much as $400,000? They couldn't look at the books a couple months ago -- or when Buffenbarger took over, for instance -- and see that this and this and this just isn't going to add up to the budgeted bottom line?

Again from the NG article:

The budget deficit comes despite a 3-cent per $100 countywide property tax increase for operating expenses approved in 2002. Busey said for fiscal year 2005 the increase has given the nursing home $742,700, which does not cover the IMRF and Social Security expenses it was intended for.

Why wasn't this figured out sooner?

And so it goes.