News | Tyrone

The night that the lights went out in Tyrone

Fri, 09/05/2008 - 3:31pm
By: John Thompson

Town cutting more costs

Tyrone’s cost-cutting measures continued Thursday night as the town voted to cut off the lights at Triangle Park. Finance Director Mary Sturm told the Town Council that about $3,000 could be saved annually be making the park dark,

Sturm had also suggested turning off the lights at Shamrock Park, but the council was reluctant to get that draconian. The leaders did ask the police department to drive by the park at night and turn off the lights if no one was using the tennis courts.

In other actions, the Town Council instructed town attorney Dennis Davenport to draft an ordinance that would rescind a current ordinance that collects impact fees for public safety, the library and recreation.

The attorney told the town officials that the main problem was if the town did not spend the money in a required amount of time, refunds would ensue.

Councilman Eric Dial asked if recreation funds could be used to build a bigger playground at Shamrock Park, but Davenport said impact fees could only be used to build the portion of the playground that would support the new residents. The rest of the funding would have to be out of the town’s general fund.

Since the town is now having to turn off lights at parks, the town decided to do away with the impact fee program.

“If building starts picking up in a few years, c an we have impact fees again?” wondered Councilman Tracy Young.

Davenport said the town could, but would have to start over from scratch with the formation of an impact fee committee.

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I'm not trying to be funny..
Submitted by FayetteFlyer on Fri, 09/19/2008 - 11:50am.

But, if Tyrone cannot afford nor generate the funds necessary to exist as its own municipality, why is it still trying?

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Once upon a time in Tyrone
Submitted by Boo on Fri, 09/05/2008 - 11:40pm.

There were 3 officials discussing how to deal with the budget crisis. There was Big Daddy lawyer Dennis, Little Council Boy Eric & Council Baby Tracy. Council Boy Eric asked if Tyrone could build him a bigger playground at Shamrock Park? Big Daddy Dennis said No! We can’t use impact fees like Barry did. Little Council Baby Tracy said, Big Daddy, if building starts again in a few years, can I get back my impact fees? Big Daddy said, No! You ain’t going to be around when that happens. Then the lights went out, and the Little Council Babies cried all the way home. Boo hoo hoo hoo.

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Tyrone Council NOT smarter than a 5th grader
Submitted by truthandjustice on Fri, 09/05/2008 - 10:00pm.

Tyrone’s Town Council continues to provide a disservice to the citizen of Tyrone with their decisions. Now they are cutting out the lights at town parks. This is all done as a cost saving measure but at what costs to the citizens. Let one citizen be mugged or one child be harmed at one of these Council mandated dark parks and see how much money the town council has saved. If they really were interested in saving money since they apparently have blown through the 2.1 million surplus the old council left them why don’t they eliminate their extravagant spending. First a town manager that does nothing (Mary Sturm makes all the decisions) potential costs savings $100,000+; town attorneys who want to run everything, potential savings to the taxpayers over $250,000; consultants for every government function, potential savings $50-100,000. Looks like their budget woes could easily be solved but that would require scruples, something this group is painfully short of.

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Finally, they turn those lights off!
Submitted by RT Tugger on Mon, 09/08/2008 - 9:11am.

Seriously, those lights have been a safety hazard ever since they were installed. They are so bright that they are distracting when one drives by at night. Turning them off is a good thing! And you can stop the hysteria about someone being mugged now that the lights are off. I have yet to see a single person at Triangle Park besides last year's town-sponsored Christmas tree-lighting ceremony. The place is always empty. Thanks, Tyrone Council. You should have done it a long time ago.

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Are you saying Tyrone spends $250,000 on legal fees
Submitted by pinkslip on Sat, 09/06/2008 - 11:51am.

So could that be a point of comparison for Cal. If Tyrone spent $250,000 since January of this year how does that compare to what you got in your open records request from the school system for the same period of time.

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