Let’s begin the weekend on a highly cynical note, shall we?  We all know that government entities (local and national) get bogged down in bureaucracy, taking forever to make some decisions and making the wrong decisions when they’re finally made.  Budget shortfalls are as common as budget overruns with construction projects.

Atlanta is no exception to this rule.  They’re in such a budget crisis that 441 employees will be laid off in the near future and property tax hikes are imminent.  Now, this might come across as ho-hum news to most but what makes this story stand out was another story I saw listed after it in my Google Reader page.  Adding insult to injury, the city of Atlanta mistakenly sent out $375,000 to 18 employees due to a miscalculation in mileage reimbursement.  Instead of paying 40 cents per mile, the person who inputted the data in the new system made it 40 DOLLARS per mile!

The article also mentions how two of those employees still haven’t returned the money, as if the city doesn’t know who they are!  The two remaining debts total $40,000!  I don’t know if they were given physical checks to cash or direct deposit.  I’m assuming the former because the one time a previous employer of mine mistakenly doubled our paychecks one period they direct-debited the additional amount within 12 hours.

The bottom line is that the difference between 40 dollars and 40 cents is two decimal places that might determine someone’s job(s).

CAUSE

&