Bill, you are correct about the seasonality of C&TS revenues and expenses; but the effect is not as great as one might think for two reasons: (a) like most railroads, the C&TS has a pretty high ratio of fixed to variable costs, and (b) the operating budgets recognize the seasonality of most variable costs (for example payroll has a fixed, but also a seasonal component as you might expect). So, net, net, once there is a cumulative negative variance of, say, $155,000 by January, getting it down to the agreed-upon budget numbers by the end of June is pretty tough to do.
Rich, yes, gotta know the total operating budget before deciding what is a significant expenditure overrun. The CTSMC operating budget (which does not include Steve Flower's Osier operation or the Commission's administrative operation) runs about $3 million annually (e.g., FY08 and FY09; I don't have FY10). So, if the overspending is brought under control ASAP, the operation might end up 5%-6% over budget. But, the problem is the Commission doesn't have a pot of cash to dig into, and $155,000 is a pretty big number for an outfit that always seems to be hurting for working capital, especially given the state of the economy today.
Randall, your point about negative feedback loops is not financial but psychological. Yes, some folks just don't like the cut of someone's jib , while others are ill-suited to adhering to budgets and procedures.
For instance Mark Yates recently posted on the Gote that back in 2000-01 that I told him not to order three sets of boiler flues, even at a volume discount, because we couldn't afford to use up our limited working capital buying what would be a three-year supply of flues. After all the shop was capable of doing no more than one locomotive boiler rebuild a year, we did not have a contract from the Commission at the time to do more (so no bucks), and the flues would sit around in inventory. Mark backed down but still ordered an excessive number, which left us strained to meet payroll. So I offered to pay Mark in flues that he could sell to the D&S or elsewhere. He was not amused.
There is a history at the C&TS of this propensity to overspend unless sufficient controls are in place and obeyed. Enforcing that is bound to breed resentment on the part of guys like Mark, who simply refused to believe we couldn't find the money somewhere. I don't mean to single out Mark; it's just human nature. Dedicated guys whose strengths are rebuilding and maintaining steam locomotives and rolling stock usually don't like "paperwork" or someone telling them the money isn't there to do what they want to do. So it goes.
