Couldn't this be addressed by requiring all spending bills to have their funding built in? ie, the bill must include what they are proposing to spend, and where the funding will come from (tax hike). This would also help people understand the costs of what they are voting for.
I think it's a particularly interesting idea for citizen initiatives to have to be in the black, but a lot of times when it comes to policy/program issues, there's disagreement over whether or not budget figures are realistic.
Think about how hard it often is for developers to estimate the time and effort involved in a project. Programs that involve putting together networks of people, hard assets, and information systems are going to be just as hard to estimate properly if not harder.
Yeah, I see how that could be an issue. How is it handled now, though? If government approves a project to improve [community service here] for $X, and the project goes over, what happens? Does the contractor have to eat it? Does government have to approve an additional extension? The project can't just run on and on, right? Sorry, I just am not that familiar with how it all works, which is kind of sad, I suppose.
