Just looking at government budgets in San Bernardino here are the numbers:
| Department | Budget |
| San Bernardino Unified | $437 Million |
| Cal State San Bernardino | $169 Million |
| City of San Bernardino | $120 Million |
| San Bernardino Community College District | $110 Million |
| Omnitrans | $89 Million |
| San Bernardino Municipal Water District | $40 Million |
| Total | $965 Million |
People costs (Operating and Maintenance) account for about 60-80% of the budget, which is around $579-772 Million dollars. This is not even including our share of the $4 Billion dollars of County budget!
It is a staggering amount of money, but why is our city of San Bernardino still impoverished? We should have the most economic growth in the region just on government spending alone.
While I will discuss these points in future posts, I want to point out that it is not crime, or business atmosphere, or housing that are explicit in our problems. They are symptoms of a larger failure: Our school system. The ranking of which, with the exception of Middle College, are in the C- to D area on a grade scale.
The residents of San Bernardino do not have the skill sets necessary for a 21st Century economy. Businesses know that, so they do not locate here.
Think about it: If businesses knew that our people were well educated but our housing stock was antiquated and our curb appeal was a little run down, wouldn’t they partner with our elected officials to keep young professionals and entrepreneurs here? I should think so!
But that’s not happening, most businesses are opening and/or investing in amenities to attract young folks to Rancho Cucamonga and Redlands. This is where our $579-772 Million dollars in people costs are going. Even our public safety and civil servants don’t live here.
We need to do better San Bernardino, or get left behind.
Comments
Post a Comment