What It’s like Being ‘The Last Man’

It’s a really bad feeling being “the last man.” I mean, there is no one you can turn to, you are “it.” You pay the bills, or shuffle them around, paying a little here and there. You’re the one who turns out the lights when you close the door.
Sure, we’ve all felt that way, but especially when it comes to listening to guys like Gov. Chris Christie give his budget message. Whether or not he’s getting change of address forms filled out for a cushy pad in D.C. or not, isn’t my concern. He spoke Feb. 24 about the Garden State’s budget of $33.5 billion. The man might as well have been speaking in Egyptian, because the folks I know here in Cape May County have no connection with that figure. To the people I know, a billion dollars is either funny money or counterfeit, so it’s a language we simply don’t understand.
A couple of days later, the state Department of Community Affairs sent out a release reminding the public and all local officials that the Fiscal 2016 budget contained $1.5 billion in Municipal State Aid. That’s the same amount as last year. Hoorah! Do you know what that means to “the last man?” It means your tax bill is going to go up. You’re going to have to do with less of something to pay more in taxes because local governments don’t operate like your household or mine.
You see, it sounds nice to the ears “We’re not cutting your state aid, fear not.” If all things were equal, that would be good news, but let me tell you, when you stand still in today’s world, you are, in fact, going backwards. Many of us are being thrown into reverse by no fault of our own.
It also sounds soothing as a Native American flute to say there is a 2 percent cap on local budgets. That means more money from you and me because contractual employees have been pledged pay hikes, insurance costs didn’t go down, and regardless of what we want to believe there is “creep” built into every government budget.
I wish I could ask for a show of hands of just how many people out there in Cape May County got a pay raise of even 2 percent this year or last year. Those who didn’t, and I venture there are quite a few, know exactly the feeling of being “last man.” You are taking home the same dough. Food is going up (have you priced a box of cereal lately? How about a gallon of milk?
Gasoline went down, but I hope you weren’t foolish enough to think it was going to stay down long. But, your elected officials, the guys who shook your hand when they wanted your vote last November, are straight-faced when they tell you there’s not a darn thing they can do to help that rising tax rate. Sorry, Bud, that’s life in the big city.
Well, friends, what would happen if they, like we “last men,” had to contend with the same paycheck as last year – or less? What if there was a prohibition on raising a municipal or county budget by one red cent? What if there had to be fewer people to do the dirty work, to answer the phones, to process welfare checks, to respond to emergency calls, what then?
If government had to truly operate like a private, profit-and-loss business, and there were shrewd business officials making rock-hard decisions as to who stayed and who left, maybe then we’d see some concerted action on consolidation and real knife wielding at budget time.
Just how many of our fellow “last men” are well connected enough to be making a six-figure salary with all the added benefits? How many “last men” get every blessed three-day holiday off with pay?
Wouldn’t it be generous of your boss to hand out a few $5,000 pay hikes, just because you did a heck of good job last year? Surely, there are bosses right here in Cape May County who would love to be able to do that, trouble is, they’re not in the public sector. Because of that they have to grin and bear it as good people go out the door, maybe head south, where living is cheaper, maybe to another job someplace else that pays more.
So then, that leaves “the last man.” He’s going to stay working as long as the paychecks keep coming. He can’t leave because he lives here, and there’s no way to leave Cape May County. He’s the guy who must simply listen to the platitudes coming from officials when they talk of level municipal aid and 2 percent budget caps. The only hope those “last men” have is to join together. Stand together and demand, absolutely demand, nothing less than what they have to live with at home for their governments at every stage, grassroots to Trenton and beyond.
Only when leaders see a mad mass rising, and meeting rooms with standing-room-only crowds that refuse to allow a budget increase of one nickel to pass, then maybe change will come.
Until that happens, friend, will that last man please turn out the lights when he leaves?