In the private sector, when CAPEX monies are applied, they are capitalized and expensed through depreciation or amortization over many years.
It appears to me that the City may be expensing CAPEX all in the year of the outlay (government accounting can be downright weird). If this is the case, the deficit may be misleading as some of what is causing it is actually allocable to future years as a result of longer term benefits. If I read the Mayor correctly, this is a big part of her position.
If the City bonded the subject CAPEX monies, would they then be shown as an immediate deduction in the City budget or is that buried in some kind of "fund" accounting? I would think the latter as we have had billion dollar bond financing and no one yelled that we had deficits to match.
