It’s budget time for many counties and cities, and preparation for fiscal year 2026 in Sunflower County got underway this past Monday as supervisors heard requests from over two dozen department heads and agencies.
The stories were fairly consistent across the board.
Everybody needs more money.
Some of the potential shortfall is fueled by inflation, but a lot is due to the fact that the federal government has been cutting billions of dollars for programs over the past six months, many of which affect Sunflower County.
The new Department of Government Efficiency set in motion billions of dollars in cuts to multiple departments, and those slashes to budgets are trickling down to the state and local levels.
States like Mississippi are more than sympathetic to DOGE’s cause and have enacted similar cuts on the statehouse level.
What will be interesting in the weeks to come is whether city and county governments will take on the role of subsidizing these affected agencies and institutions.
The temptation will be there to shore up funding for the next 12 months, but that may not be the best course of action.
Counties and cities may go broke trying to make sure everyone keeps their funding until the federal government loosens its pocketbook again.
It may seem like the right thing to do. It may seem like the moral thing to do.
But that sort of short-term fix may cause long-term problems locally.
As soon as state legislatures and the federal government realize that local bodies are willing to pick up the tab for the shortfalls, they will adjust their budgets accordingly for future years.
In other words, DOGE advocates would say that if a county can fund these things now, and they want to keep them going, they should be able to continue doing so without federal help.
Paying for everyone’s shortfall may work for one year, with a modest tax increase to cover it, but that is not sustainable for local governments.
When boards of aldermen and supervisors are forced to cut these lifelines next year, these agencies and institutions may be without federal, state or local aid.
If local politicians, agencies and institutions are patient for the next 12 months, it is likely that state legislatures and the federal government will eventually reconsider their cuts and start allocating monies again to things like the arts, colleges and nonprofits, just to name a few.
The current administration wants to be free of as much financial burden as it can muster.
Pumping in local dollars where federal funds used to be will only help that cause.
Voters this year, fresh off the 2024 presidential election, are likely interested in hearing candidates' intended responses to this potential crisis.
