Having been in the U.S. Navy, I learned numerous pithy sayings. Have you ever seen a group of sailors coming into port, having been out at sea with months and months of paychecks in their pockets? I once witnessed the carrier Midway with its several thousand sailors enter port in Yokosuka, Japan after having been out to sea for something like six months. You will have to trust me when I say I have witnessed first hand why they call it, “spending like a drunken sailor.”
This morning as I drove to my weekly Optimists Club breakfast meeting, the sky was a brilliant red over the high school. It reminded me of another Navy saying, “Red at night, sailors’ delight. Red in the morning, sailors take warning.”
There is wisdom in that old saying. Back in the days before weathermen had satellites and radar, sailors paid close attention to the skies. Ask anyone who has been a Boatswain’s mate; the redness at sunset is a fairly accurate predictor of calm seas over night. The red morning skies may forecast a stormy day ahead.
Are you an optimist or a pessimist?
Recently, I was on the phone with one of my district’s attorneys. I had drafted an agreement, which I hoped would help resolve a sticky personnel matter and I was asking our attorney to review it. Over the years, I have grown to appreciate the humor and professionalism of this counsel. He has on more than one occasion provided me with sage advice. In this situation, our conversation went something like this:
“You know Rob, I have been told that the best attorneys are those who are depressed.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the best attorneys are those who are always thinking of the worst thing that could happen to their clients. Then they draft long and exhausting documents that address just about any possible bad thing that could happen under the sun.”
“Ha, ha!”
“In this case, your letter should work fine for 99 percent of the cases. There is always a risk, but it would appear to be quite small in this situation.”
As we enter the budget preparation season for 2009-10 with adjustments possible for 2008-09, how many of you are going to take the approach of being “depressed” and taking into account every possible thing that could go wrong? Every year starting about this time, you hear about neighboring districts, which are predicting huge deficits for the upcoming year. There are times when I have been one of those prognosticators. On the other hand, there are times when my colleagues in surrounding districts are predicting million dollar deficits and I wonder why mine isn’t that big. It is all in the assumptions.
As chief financial officers for our districts, we often walk a fine line between being conservative and prudent with the budget, which is our job, and being downright depressed. If your district has a healthy fund balance, say 20 percent or more of your annual expenditures, you may be able to afford to be a little less conservative in your budgeting. If your fund balance is less than 5 percent of your annual expenditures, you probably should be more cautious in your assumptions. If your fund balance is close to zero or “below decks,” remember the adage “red in the morning, (don’t spend like a drunken sailor) take warning!”
As I write this, today is Veteran’s Day. Kudos to those of you or your loved ones who have served our country, especially those who served during wartime and in combat zones. (I did not.)
Tomorrow is another memorable anniversary. At the Mariner's Church of Detroit in downtown Detroit, there will be a ringing of the bells 29 times in memory of the sailors who lost their lives on the Edmund Fitzgerald and also for the lost lives of sailors from many other vessels who died in storms on the Great Lakes. In case, you have not seen it, the Mariner's Church is located on the Detroit River front not far from Cobo Center, the site of our annual conference this year.
The walkway that goes along the Detroit River from Cobo Center down past the Renaissance Center is a lovely stroll. Recently, during the MSBO Leadership Conference meetings, I witnessed hundreds if not thousands of downtown workers enjoying the scenery of Michigan’s Ambassador Bridge with Canada, the freighters and fishermen’s craft on the river, downtown Windsor, Ontario just across the way, and downtown Detroit’s skyline. The one word that I can think of to describe it is “charming.” I hope the weather at this year’s MSBO conference in late April will cooperate and we all get the chance to experience this short walk along the waterfront.
Are you an optimist or pessimist? Well, here’s my lyrical answer for this month from multiple Nobel Prize nominee Bono and U2:
“It's a beautiful day
Sky falls, you feel like
It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away...”
P.S. Don’t forget the celebration of Tom White’s leadership for MSBO will take place on Thursday, December 4 at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing. Contact MSBO offices to RSVP.