So, I can hear you thinking it right now – “You passed a budget? So what? That’s about as exciting as watching the leaves fall off the trees.” I’ll tell you why you should care.
First, passing an annual budget in November for the next year shows the Collin County Democratic Party reaching a level of financial maturity that we hadn’t attained in years. Few people realize that the state party rules mandate that the County Executive Committee, not the County Chair, is responsible for approving every dollar spent. We do that by passing a budget in advance that delegates the authority for detailed expenditures to committees and selected officers. It hasn’t always been that way. In some years before my tenure the County Chair spent money solely on his own authority without approval of the CEC. In yet another year an annual budget wasn’t approved until August – eight months into the year. And when I first started out as a Precinct Chair we sometimes had lengthy debates in CEC meetings about spending just a few hundred dollars. We now authorize committees to spend thousands of dollars, with the details approved by committee vote. We’ve come a long way.
And second, as you may have heard in discussions about the national budget in Congress, a budget is more than just a revenue and spending plan – it’s a statement of values and priorities. The budget we passed the other evening reflects where we are and plan to go as a party. Due to finally paying off our debts, finishing renovations to make our office accessible to people with disabilities, and a modest planned increase in fund raising, we’re able to spend money on significant programs that we’ve never funded before or not funded at these levels. We’re planning over a tenfold increase in spending on Community Outreach to engage ethnic, racial, and religious minorities who lean Democratic but who don’t vote as much as they could. We’re planning to invest in field activities even before our slate of candidates is finalized in the Primary. We’re investing in new tools to help us better engage with donors, communicate with volunteers, and do opposition research. And we’re planning our biggest Coordinated Campaign ever for next year’s General Election.
Our Finance Committee, aided by recommendations from the other committees and officers, did a lot of great work and put in many hours developing the budget for presentation this week. They all deserve your thanks.
So, yes, as beautiful as this fall has been, you should also be excited about our passing a budget for next year. You can look forward to being even more excited about what that budget is going to help us do.