Bison Brief #1: "We'll Find the Money" Is Not a Strategy

Jamie Sabbach, Author of The Bison Principle, President & Principal, 110% Inc.

October 2026

The Bison Brief Series is a reflection series based and adapted from ideas explored in Jamie Sabbach's The Bison Principle: Clarity, Discipline, and Courage in Local Government.

There are four words in local government that should make everyone nervous: We’ll find the money.

They sound reassuring. Resourceful. Optimistic. Maybe even entrepreneurial.

But too often, they are none of those things.

A new facility is proposed. A program idea gains momentum. A community wants another amenity. An aging asset needs attention. The numbers do not quite work, but the idea is compelling, expectations are growing, and the pressure to move forward is real.

So someone says it: We’ll find the money.

And sometimes we do. A grant appears. A partnership develops. A new revenue source is identified. Reserves are tapped. Fees are increased. Another fund absorbs the expense.

Problem solved? Not necessarily.

Because finding money is not the same thing as having a financial strategy. And “we’ll find the money” can become a convenient way to avoid confronting the question that should come first: Can we actually afford what we are promising?

Obligations Last Generations

Local government is built on aspiration. We want better parks, better streets, better libraries, new trails, community centers, and programs and services that respond to changing demands. For better or worse, wanting more is part of the human condition.

The problem begins when aspiration becomes separated from obligation. That means understanding not only what something costs to create, but what it will cost to operate, maintain, repair, and eventually replace. It means asking who will pay those costs not simply in year one, but decades down the road.

And it means confronting one of the questions local government is often least comfortable asking: What might we no longer be able to afford because we chose this?

Every new asset creates an obligation. Every new service creates an expectation. Every new commitment consumes some amount of future capacity. Once a facility opens, a program launches, staff is hired, and the community grows accustomed to having something, the conversation changes.

It is no longer about whether we should add it. It becomes about whether anyone will have the courage to take it away when the community can no longer afford it.

The ribbon cutting may last an hour, but the obligation can last generations.

Building is the Easiest Part

One of the most persistent mistakes in local government is confusing the cost of creating something with the cost of owning it. They are not the same.

A community can secure millions of dollars to build a facility and still have no sustainable way to operate it.

A grant can fund a trail while providing nothing for the crews, equipment, repair, and long-term maintenance required to protect it. A donor can pay for an amenity without contributing a dollar toward its eventual replacement. Even a new program that generates revenue can consume far more staff time, administrative support, facility capacity, and overhead than anyone fully acknowledges, leaving expenses to outpace the revenue it produces.

The trouble begins when we celebrate the money to dig holes and cut ribbons while paying far less attention to the money required to keep what we build operating, managed, maintained, and eventually replaced. Staffing, utilities, insurance, technology, maintenance, capital repair, replacement, and inflation are costs. Pure and simple. Ignoring them on the front end does not make them disappear.

Sending the Bill Forward

Communities often end up shocked by financial pressures that were foreseeable from the beginning because the math was inconvenient, politically difficult, or unpopular. Predictable. And preventable.

When someone says, “We’ll find the money,” the next question should be: From where?

Money in local government is not conveniently found. It is taken from somewhere, redirected from something, or promised from the future.

Sometimes it comes from:

• taxpayers

• delaying the replacement of an aging roof or allowing maintenance to slip another year.

• keeping fees artificially low while subsidy quietly grows.

• stretching employees, equipment, and existing facilities beyond reasonable capacity.

• assuming growth will eventually solve the problem.

And sometimes the bill is simply handed to the next council, board, administrator, director, or generation.

That is not finding money. It is transferring responsibility.

Math Before Promises are Made

Financial stewardship requires a different discipline. It requires asking whether the commitment should be made at all.

Who benefits? What level of public investment is justified? What is the full cost? How will operations, maintenance, repair, and eventual replacement be funded? What assumptions are we making about growth, demand, revenue, or future political support?

And what happens if those assumptions are wrong? Those questions force aspiration to survive contact with reality. A facility a community cannot maintain is not a successful investment. A program with an ever-growing subsidy is not automatically sustainable simply because people like it. An asset built today without a plan for tomorrow is not necessarily a gift to the next generation.

It can simply become a bill they never agreed to pay.

---

The Bison Principle

When storms approach, most animals run away. Bison run into the storm.

By moving toward difficulty, they shorten its duration.

Financial stewardship requires the same commitment. Know the cost. Name the tradeoffs. Align promises with capacity. Then decide.

Sometimes the answer may be yes. Sometimes it may be not yet. And sometimes responsible leadership requires the courage to say no.

That is stewardship at its finest. And that is a financial strategy built on something more durable and enduring than hope.

The Bison Brief Series is a reflection series based and adapted from ideas explored in Jamie Sabbach's The Bison Principle: Clarity, Discipline, and Courage in Local Government.

Jamie Sabbach is the author of The Bison Principle, and President & Principal with 110% Inc., a consulting firm which focuses on ethical decision making, adaptive leadership, and the financial sustainability of public parks and recreation. She can be reached at jsabbach@110percent.net.