REFUND checks for many tax over-payers will go into the mail this week, we’re told. That’s not a bad thing, since a refund from the tax department is your own money coming back to you. You shouldn’t have paid it in the first place, but a lot of folks treat their withholding like a savings account, sort of a Christmas club.

So we’ll have Christmas in June for a few weeks, good for the retailers, not so good for the government of Guam. With all the congratulatory talk about the favorable bond interest rate we got and the ease with which we sold our latest bonds, it seems almost mean-spirited to remind everybody that this is not good news; it is just a stark reminder that GovGuam is being badly managed.

How can we celebrate when we know, or should know, that the refunds are being paid with borrowed money? How can we celebrate when we think about the fact this is probably the last time GovGuam will be able to go down this road to pay its obligations? Unless the Organic Act is amended or our elected leaders conspire once again to artificially inflate the property assessment valuation, we aren’t going to have any money to pay 2012 refunds, or 2013, not to mention our other recurring bills.

It may be poor fiscal management, but we’re becoming awfully good at foisting our current operational requirements off on future generations. Our kids will be, for a very long time, paying all the bonds off. Meanwhile when you go to the well for next year’s refund, it won’t be there. The Legislature this week will propose, and probably pass, legislation allowing the administration to pay all of the 2011 refunds using money that is set aside for next year’s refunds.

The governor’s communications director, Troy Torres, points out the reserve budgeted for 2012 refunds is cash in the bank. “We’re going to empty the pot,” he said accurately. “If this bill passes into law, what we’re going to be emptying are the reserves and we have to fill it back up.” With what? We now have an accumulated deficit of about $375 million, and it isn’t getting any smaller.

Perhaps the governor and his minions see something rosy and optimistic coming around the bend, but we don’t see it. Maybe the buildup will gear up and start generating the tax revenue we anticipated. But we doubt it. In any case, tapping into prudently set aside funds intended to be used next year to send out more refund checks this year is just poor planning.

Of course it is an election year. The senators, Republicans and Democrats alike, will mostly go along as we continue tripping merrily into the deficit pit. Enjoy your refund, but plan better than GovGuam does for next year, and don’t leave them owing you any money.