The editor:
I see the mayor is trying to soften the people up by trying to explain that all the things they are giving free money to are necessary.
They have added two new organizations to the list this year, giving each of them $25,000. Of course every organization, even the city, tries to get free money to lighten the load of extra work, or advertising they can do with it.
The city cut back a few of the organizations a few years ago and have not increased or decreased that money since. They did this because of the hard times but you will notice last year they never gave the city employees a raise.
Now the city paid the Business Improvement District, another organization, $27,000 this year. I do not remember a meeting that BID had and have not heard of a financial report from them as per the bylaw recommended a few years ago, just verbal communications apparently. That's not the way the by-law reads and must be followed.
A total of $1.3 million was given to the organizations as incentives; funny how a little bit here and there adds up.
The city has known for years about the water line from Rafferty and they are on the hook for anything over $9 million and it has to be done in 2020 or they will be on the hook for a lot more. They are already $1.5 million over budget that they have to scrape up $1 million for the police station for 24-30 people, which would look great going to the water project for 11,483 people, which is the city’s population according to the 2016 census.
We’d be lucky if the city's population now is 10,900.
This is another tricky budget as everyone seems to want, want, want everything and cutting back is not what they are trying to do.
Dale M. Wetsch
