$300,000 Toilet For The Homeless

$300,000 is the cost for one of these high speed Porta-Potties and Atlanta has just finished putting five of them in place. Let's see now. 5 X $300,000 = $1.5 million.
I found a video of these outhouses for the urban outdoorsman, but it doesn't do it justice. In addition to the actual toilet, there is also classical music piped in, heating and cooling, automatic water faucets for the sink and several more must have amenities that every sidewalk john needs.

Mayor Shirley Franklin is one of the mayors who is facing a budget shortfall, partly due to the downturn in the economy overall, but mostly due to some very creative bookkeeping, not by her administration, but by previous mayors who has gone to Washington with tin cup in hand asking for some of that federal money. She has cut policemen, firefighters, and ordered across the board cuts in all departments.

Well, maybe some of those laid off workers can find a home in one of these upscale bathrooms.

Folks, I don't know about you, but my entire house isn't appraised for that much. Not even close.

Of course Atlanta has a Democratic government

Mayor Franklin: Atlanta facing $70 million budget deficit
Atlanta has been controlled by the Democrats since the end of the War of Northern Aggression I think. It is no surprise that the city is in debt, it is just the amount that is staggering, along with the revelations of how it got so bad.

For instance, some salary expenses, pension payments and worker compensation payments were listed as "reserves" when they were expense items, city officials said. The city did not anticipate spending $11 million to settle a lawsuit to police officers not paid for overtime and penalties to the Internal Revenue Service for payroll processing delays. The city also expects to spend $30 million more than expected for fuel, utilities, health insurance, vehicle repairs, consultant fees and other expenses.

Now in the way of defense some folks from the city government handed out some packets to reporters.

City officials noted Atlanta is not the only government facing financial troubles. They handed reporters a packet of newspaper articles detailing budget shortfalls in higher-populated cities like Los Angeles, New York and Phoenix. Sacramento, Calif., a city with a population similar to Atlanta, is grappling with a $55 million shortfall.

Now what do all of those cities have in common? Hmmm I can't quite put my finger on it.
What is missing from these articles is some of the funny math and just downright stupidity that went into doing the budget. They spend 8 million a year for an entertainment area known as Underground Atlanta. heaven only knows what the money goes for since the area is a bunch of shops and bars all privately owned. They also discovered that the pensions they were paying out instead of putting them on the minus side of the ledger they counting them as income.

For instance, some salary expenses, pension payments and worker compensation payments were listed as "reserves" when they were expense items, city officials said.

And no, all of the information is not contained in one source. It is hard to get beyond the headlines and find out any information regarding what actually led the nuts and bolts of the shortfall. Suffice it to say it plain looks like creative bookkeeping at its best.