...and $30K more in economic development slush fund begging.
The Lake County Commission heard numerous requests for funding Tuesday from county departments and from non-profit organizations. So far, the various funding requests exceed last year's tally by $600,000.
Most of the requests reported by the intrepid Elisa Sand have at least one thing in common: the requesters make clear how their agencies would spend the taxpayers' money they so humbly seek.
- States Attorney Ken Meyer would spend $2500 for three new desktop computers.
- Emergency manager Don Thomson requests $46,000 to meet "minimum equipment needs," including radios and pagers for rural fire departments and a new copier for his office. Another $50,000 would cover an addition to the Search and Rescue building.
- As veterans service officer, Thomson requests $700 for travel and conferences and $1365 for Vetra Spec software and wireless Internet access.
- Weed chief Bob Johnson (he must catch wisecracks over that job) requests a budget boost of $10,000 due to higher chemical costs and a need for wider spraying brought on by wetter, weedier weather.
- Off the county payroll, Norm Jerke from ECCO requested $2500 to cover costs of training software.
- ICAP's Kimberly McCoy requested $9379 to fund 37% of a community service worker position.
- Book boss Nancy Sabbe requested $6000 to support the new online book/audio download program and $2500 for a furnace and air-conditioning reserve fund.
- Hospital exec Tammy Miller seeks $20,000 toward ambulance replacement.
Lots of specific projects. Lots of concrete purchases with direct, measurable public benefit.
Compare that with the request Lake Area Improvement Corporation Dwaine Chapel made for an additional $30,000 (that's 20% more than last year) of taxpayer money. In total, the LAIC is seeking $270,000 in taxpayer dollars in 2012. As with his laughably incomplete "budget" presented to the city, Chapel gives no specifics, just the same general promises that good things will happen if we just hand him our money (over $100,000 of which he takes home to Brookings each year).
Chapel does tell the commission that the county can direct that its aid be used for specific purposes. I hope the Lake County Commission, as well as the Madison City Commission, will take Chapel up on that comment and demand specifics and accountability from the LAIC. Everyone else asking the county for money seems capable of offering a specific accounting of the use of our tax dollars; so should Chapel and the LAIC.
At this point in this economic cliff we fell over during the last administration and the impending recession we're now getting the brunt of, organizations and people need to have plans in hand for how they'll spend their money. Just handing it out "because we might do good things with it" doesn't cut it in this economy. We need specifics.
These groups presented real needs and gave specific answers to how the money will be spent. If Lake County has a budget shortage and it needs to deny funding, I would expect that the projects that impact public safety (such as the Ambulances and Emergency Management requests) are met first.