How to not save $10 or $125B

Winter is coming. Prognosticators allege the temperature will dip below freezing early Friday morning. Lows in the 20s are expected all weekend.

Like most Georgians, I’m frightened. And, like most of you, I’ve properly hoarded beer, milk, cereal and cured meats. My canned soup collection is strong.

I’ve walked around in my thickest coat and found at least one pair of matching gloves and a ski cap.

While digging through various coat pockets I came across a forgotten $10 bill. I immediately pondered how to best spend it.

The wife suggested stuffing it into the rainy day fund (aka “sock drawer”) but that’s about as exciting as UGA’s football team.

I splurged on a double cheeseburger and felt good about it.

Finding $10 in a coat is nice, but what if I found more — say $125 billion.

Impossible? Well, yes. I doubt even Santa’s magical attire could fit that much cold cash in its pockets.

But, something similar did happen at the Pentagon, home of profligate spending.

The Washington Post reports a study requested by the Defense Department discovered a way to cut $125 billion in wasteful spending but its findings were “buried” because military officials were worried Congress would cut defense spending if money was saved.

As the fiscal year ends many government offices, from the smallest city department to the largest federal one, spend whatever cash remains so it can argue the same amount of funding or more is needed next year.

Smaller government agencies empty the annual coffers by spending hundreds or thousands of dollars. The Defense Department spends $580 billion a year to fund the military.

A study conducted by the Defense Business Board, an advisory panel of corporate executives, discovered 23 percent of the Pentagon’s budget was spent on “overhead” and $125 billion could be cut over five years.

The study found the Defense Department has almost as many office workers (1 million) as it does active troops (1.3 million).

A private in the Army takes home about $20,000 in pay. The average Pentagon office job was costing taxpayers close to $200,000.

What can $125 billion buy you? The operational costs for 50 Army brigades, or 3,000 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for the Air Force, or 10 aircraft-carrier strike groups for the Navy, the report suggested.

The entire F-22 program cost just $62 billion for the 195 planes built in Marietta.

Instead of reallocating the savings to strengthen military power, Pentagon officials worried the study “would undermine repeated public assertions that years of budget austerity had left the armed forces starved of funds,” the Post said.

The report was killed and the data used to create it was made secret so no one could replicate the findings. A 77-page summary report was removed from a Pentagon website.

The next time I find $10 in an old coat pocket I just might save it.

City names new public safety director

After a nationwide search, the Alpharetta City Council on Monday night named a 15-year law enforcement veteran from Cobb County as its new director of public safety.

John Robison, who has served as police chief in Powder Springs since February 2015, will begin his new job in the North Fulton city on Jan. 3. He will lead Alpharetta’s police, fire, 911 and emergency management services, a department with 262 positions.

Robison previously served in Alpharetta, achieving the rank of lieutenant, before leaving in 2011 to pursue leadership positions elsewhere. “John was part of our team for 10 years, so he will be coming in with a strong knowledge of our organization and culture and the respect of the public safety professionals he will be leading,” City Administrator Bob Regus said.

Robison will replace Gary George, who will retire in January after 46 years in law enforcement. George joined Alpharetta as police chief in 2001 and led the merger of police, fire, communications and emergency services into a unified public safety department.

Clark’s Christmas Kids, providing gifts for more than 8,000 children in Georgia foster care. 8