Theatre of the Absurd
We have always likened the annual – or in the case of the State of Connecticut, biennial – budget process to a line from Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Mikado.” The haughty Pooh-Bah is asked to sign a letter to the Mikado, and finally says, “Name your fiction and I’ll sign it.” When all the budget negotiating is over, we cannot but help to think that some of the numbers down on paper are just fiction.
That thought came to us this week after Gov. Ned Lamont unveiled is $50.5 billion – that’s with a ‘b” – biennial budget. Before the ink was dry the onslaught of special interest groups began the blizzard of press releases decrying “cuts” that have been made in the package. This program or that program saw a “cut” and it is catastrophic if the money the programs proponents demand isn’t put back. The General Assembly has to see how important this program or that is otherwise there is an existential threat to program recipients. We have seen it all before.
It is Theater of the Absurd, played for the benefit of the press, the politicians and the constituency involved, those residents who benefit from whatever program is on the edge of destruction. But this year there is a new queen of the Absurd, University of Connecticut President Dr. Radenka Maric. Maric was in full dungeon last week all but saying the Storrs-based school was on the verge of collapse because of the amounts quoted in Lamont’s budget.
“The appropriations proposed for UConn and UConn Health fall far short of what is necessary to adequately fund the university, carry out our critical public health mission most effectively, and fully cover the sizeable costs the state seeks to pass along to us,” Maric wrote in a letter to students.
The FY2023 budget is $1.7 billion – again with a ‘b’ – and the Lamont’s budget calls for 23.7 million more in state funding. Yet, Dr. Maric told the press programs would have to be cut, tuition would have to increase $3,000, and (here is the kicker), UConn’s basketball and teams may have to pull out of Hartford’s XL Center to save money.
At issue is federal pandemic emergency funds, which Dr. Maric and UConn were told were one-time budgetary booster shots and should not be expected again. So, the president and her Regents either did not understand English, or thought they would include it anyway and play a game of budgetary “chicken” the with General Assembly. Almost immediately, the elected officials worried about the president’s idle threats – especially moving out the XL Center. In this game of chicken, the politicos clucked on cue.
In the real world, people like Dr. Maric would lose their jobs. Ignoring directives is usually serious stuff. We are sure the shortfall, of about $100 million could be found in a budget of more than $1.7 billion. Perhaps, UConn can do what Florida is going and excise its unnecessary Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion bureaucracy, a boondoggle if there ever was one. That, we are sure, would put a dent in that shortfall, and maybe even save the students another tuition increase, due to profligate spending on staff.
The budget negotiating season will be interesting, and the lamentations of various recipients at the public trough will echo for months. In the end everyone will get more money, though the public will be told departments will have to muddle through the agony. Taxpayers, however, will not see any increases in their budgets, only more taxes.