Running a town or a municipality can be a lot of hard work
. There are a lot of different tasks to be taken care of and a lot of people to keep track of in order to make sure that everything is happening that needs to happen to run the town.
One of the most complicated areas in running a town is in the taxes and how they are invested. There are a lot of rules and regulations about what can be done and what cannot be done. There is no question that the controller, along with all of the accountants of a municipality have a lot of responsibility and accountability for the money that they control. If they do not follow all of the regulations they can cause the town to be fined significantly. Taxpayers do not want to know that their tax dollars are going to unnecessary fines. It does not matter if the fines were due to ignorance or an intentional act.
Another hard part about running a small town is to coordinate all of the different departments and their schedules. There is a lot of overlap and a lot of planning is necessary in order to make things happen. Without this, a town can find themselves devoid of any real feeling of community and a town that people feel disconnected from.
Each town is run differently and some places are luckier than others because they have more of a selection of talented leaders who have found it in themselves to run for office. These towns often do well because of the leader's ability to figure out tough, complex issues and come up with creative solutions.
When it comes to running a town in this economy all of the issues that are normal get magnified. The solutions are harder to come by and they are tougher to make. The solutions to the tough problems often involve some devastating blows to some families because of lost jobs. It also often means making the tough decision to raise taxes at a time that no one has the money to pay the taxes as they are, let alone paying more taxes than the current amount.
The next time that you make snide remarks about those that lead you town, ask yourself if you would be willing to take on their role. Ask yourself what choice you would have made and how would that have gone over with others in the town.