By Frank J. Diekmann
Here are a couple of related predictions for you.
Next week, on Oct. 19, NCUA will hold a briefing on its proposed 2023 budget, for which it is proposing an 8.1% increase over 2022. Agency staff will earnestly present detailed PowerPoints to the board and credit unions outlining how and why the money needs to be spent, some $367 million in all. Members of the board will issue guarded statements of support, while also expressing some openness to a potentially smaller budget.
And all of that even though no one at NCUA actually expects to be spending anywhere near 8% more money in 2023.
The NCUA presentations will be followed by similarly earnest appearances by representatives of the credit union trade associations, who will pronounce themselves “shocked, shocked!” to find the agency is even considering this kind of an escalation. They will pull out their own analyses comparing NCUA to other agencies, decry the size of the proposed increase as they point to colorful charts clearly showing the number of credit unions is shrinking, gnash their teeth that this is the members’ money we’re talking about, and call on NCUA to go back to virtual exams and save money, as the virtual check-ups worked just fine during the pandemic, thank you very much.
And all of that even though no one at the trade associations actually expects NCUA to be spending anywhere near 8% more money in 2023.
Going Home Happy
At its meeting in November or December, the board will announce a much smaller budget increase, the one it planned all along, and the agency will congratulate itself for being “responsive” and listening to credit unions, while the trade associations will trumpet their “success” in standing up to the federal regulator and reminding their dues-paying CU members that those dollars are paying off.
And everyone will go home happy, or at least as happy as anyone in Washington can be.
It’s a game older than the District of Columbia itself, and we see it all the time today with members of Congress who insert onerous language into legislation for the express purpose of removing it later, patting themselves on the back with one hand for “hearing” their constituents’/various interests’ concerns while picking up that PAC contribution with the other.
Had to See It to Believe It
None of this, of course, is unique to Washington. I just witnessed the same thing myself in the county in which I live when I attended a Zoning/Growth Management Board meeting this week over a subdivision that is being proposed. I live in Florida, where the idea of “growth management” is a pretty loose concept (also known in the Sunshine State as an oxymoron), and I listened as developers told the board that after earlier proposing 2,000 houses be built where maybe 500 would be a better fit, they had listened carefully to the board’s feedback and were now back with a plan for just 1,000 homes where maybe 500 would still be a better fit. (I’m not kidding when I tell you the developer had to adjust the position of the AC units on the houses because there was insufficient room between them for emergency personnel to have access. Not saying that’s an indicator you’re squeezing too tight, but…)
The board members, knowing full well what was going on when the developer made his initial proposal, then voted unanimously in favor of the “revised” plans, falling all over themselves to take credit for having somehow “managed” the growth and listening to those citizens who had taken time to show up and object.
For their part, the citizens whose comments were all but dismissed will now get to celebrate with more traffic.
This was the first meeting of the Zoning/Growth Management Board that I attended, and I would be remiss if I did not give them credit. For keeping straight faces. At one point one developer talked about all the “green space” he was setting aside. In this case, that green space was the Intercoastal Waterway. Seriously.
Make Sure to Tune In
But back to NCUA and its budget (I suppose now that I have a point of comparison I should praise the agency for not including the Potomac River as part of its back-up liquidity plans). The budget hearing will be Oct. 19 at 10 a.m. E.T. and will be livestreamed on NCUA.gov.
Get your bets down now.
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief of CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info. Mr. Diekmann is also author of several new book, including the brand new “The Last Lyric,” a humorous satire about a murder investigation at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in which every line of dialogue is either a classic pop/rock song title or lyric. Available on Amazon, Apple iBook, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. Mr. Diekmann is also author of a non-fiction compilation of the very best & worst he has seen and heard in covering more than 500 CU meetings and conferences, “501 Name Tags: How Everything You Need to Know About Business Can Be Learned at a Conference & Forgotten in the Trade Show.” It is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Lulu, and Smashwords