Wednesday, June 20, 2001
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Wednesday, June 20, 2001 |
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Fayette, do you want to be beautiful? By DAVE HAMRICK Budget-writing is one of those sausage-making types of exercises. You're better off not watching the entire process, because it ain't particularly pretty. But because you pay me the big bucks, I watch the process for you. The doctor says I'll recover in a few weeks, but the nightmares might last a little longer. Anyway, I sat through the County Commission's budgeting process this past week. Of course, what I witnessed was the tip of the iceberg. Before the commissioners had their chance to go over the proposed budget line by line, the finance director and county administrator sat down with each department head, cutting items that the department heads couldn't convince them should stay. Then the commissioners sat down with the department heads, giving each one a chance to go over the administrators' heads and convince the commissioners that the items cut should have been left in. And the commissioners, in turn, grilled the department heads on items individual commissioners thought the taxpayers might be better off without. That part of the process took about 13 hours. For about a minute and a half every hour or so, the air was humming with newsworthy information that I felt you couldn't do without. The rest of the time was pretty much like waiting for hair to grow on a billiard ball. A couple of casual observations: First, the commissioners by and large do the best they can to save you money, and so do the people who run the county's daily operations. That doesn't mean you won't disagree with some of their decisions, but it does mean I couldn't see where anyone was taking the responsibility lightly. Second, Commissioner Linda Wells can squeeze a nickel until it bleeds. There is no line item expenditure too small for her to question. Whether that's criticism or praise depends on your own mind set, I suppose. It's just an observation. One potentially important program, it seemed to this disinterested observer, fell victim to the ongoing dispute over tax equity between the county and local cities, and if I'm reading the situation right, that's a shame. Unless something changes before the final vote, commissioners have cut from the budget the Keep Fayette Beautiful program, which has hovered on the fringes of viability ever since it was formed in the mid-'80s. Commissioners have funded a mere $25,000 for the program every year since 1985, stating each time that it is not the county's intention to provide the lion's share of funding. If local cities, business and industry and the public would get behind the program, the county would be glad to help out. But for various reasons, the cities would never kick in, and the program has limped along with mostly volunteer help, in-kind contributions, a little money here or there from industry, and the lion's share of its funding coming from the county. Perhaps not in previous years, but possibly in more recent ones, city fathers may have considered requests for funding for Keep Fayette Beautiful with, in the backs of their minds, the feeling that city residents aren't getting what they deserve in terms of services from the county. Perhaps there was, in the minds of some, justification for feeling that the county should shoulder the entire beautification program. Maybe they just didn't have the money, I don't know. Whatever the reasons for the lack of support elsewhere, commissioners this year decided they've had enough. They'll consider getting back on the bandwagon in the future if there is a bandwagon to get on, but they're not pulling the whole cart alone anymore. If money isn't found elsewhere, the program will probably die, because there won't be any paid staff. It's a shame. I've seen programs like this in other communities, and they can be a tremendous part of the quality of life. They can do a huge service just by saving landfill space, and the educational work they do, plus the old-fashioned volunteer cleanup work they sponsor, can be key components of the glue that turns a collection of subdivisions into a community. True, Fayette is cleaner than most communities. Maybe it's hard to get people fired up about the idea of picking up trash off the highway, but a Keep America Beautiful program is much, much more than that. The ball is in your court, community. Civic clubs, industries, individuals, city governments ... each one wouldn't have to chip in much to finally get this program off the ground. What do you say?
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