Dumb Ways Bozeman Spends Your Money

What geek sorts through the City of Bozeman approved expenditure lists? This girl. Now more than ever, I'd like to think we'd be super diligent with tax payer dollars. I think Bozeman can be doing a better job, especially with the little things.

The little things add up, and they add up quickly.

This is all just my personal opinion, but now does not seem to be a good time to annoy your populous with lack of frugality.

PEOPLE ARE LOSING THEIR JOBS. Some have seen certain benefits disappear. Groceries are more expensive. Property taxes are borderline offensive. Each and every one of us are trying to maintain with less.

I would implore the City to take a good hard look at these weekly lists of expenditures and ask "why" more often. Perhaps all of these things were necessary. But I doubt it.

The following items were pulled verbatim from recent Expenditure Approval Lists. If you're bored and curious, you can look through them too.

• TOWING STICKER - DESIGN AND LAYOUT: $443.75 (Not the stickers, just the design. How about a talented MSU student next time? Do you know how many design awards they've won?)
• TOW FROM BILLINGS TO VM - 2005 AUTO CAR: $1,750.00 (Wish there was more detail here but that seems like one hell of a tow.)
• LANDSCAPE MAINT: MAY STORY MILL PARK: $8,805.20 (Don't get me wrong, I love our parks...and Story Mill is nice, and BIG. But nearly $9,000 for ONE MONTH? I'll have to find out more on this one. Our parks are one of the best parts of the City...but I'd guess most folks have no idea how crazy expensive they are to maintain.)
• Last week your money paid for over $16,000 of books for the library. Our library is world class. That just seems like a lot?
• AIRFARE - NATL LEAGUE OF CITY DC: $1,386.40 (I'm ALL FOR attending conferences. They can be incredibly useful. But perhaps fly coach if we're footing the bill.)
• MONTHLY LEASE SWIM COPIER 05/15-6/14-20: $233.00 (Really? Must be one fancy copier. Most others that the city leases aren't nearly as expensive.)
• We spend A LOT of money to post jobs at Indeed. There were just too many to add up but perhaps that speaks to a bigger problem.
• 4-PICNIC TABLES: $3,489.25 (Those must be incredible picnic tables. Sure, you can find more expensive ones but it wasn't difficult to find well reviewed, industrial picnic tables that were much cheaper.)
• SUBSCRIPTION GRAMMERLY: $29.95 (y'all know there's a free version, right?)