Council members Knobloch and Brackett are correct! The action taken by the council to “borrow” funds from utilities is both reckless and irresponsible. Brackett said: “It sets a precedent for raiding the utility fund…” when confronted in future times with a similar crisis.

Mr. (Richard) Allen of the utility ratepayers group is also right in that the city should not borrow itself into deeper financial peril when the recession could continue for another year or more.

The revenue stream is not likely to improve in the near term and may continue to be sparse well into 2010 or 2011. Not facing this grim reality will only cause more pain in the months to come. It would be much better to reduce the size and cost of local government now than to wait for the problem to grow much worse and then really have to be draconian in response.

The council did not plan for a rainy day and instead expended funds over the past five years on any project that caught its attention without regard to possible market gyrations.

They now can’t seem to face up to the possibility of a city headed towards bankruptcy unless drastic action is taken. Even if they “borrow” $600,000, a few months down the road they will be pondering borrowing more.

It is time to “bite the bullet” and err on the side of fiscal responsibility and abandon the current path of more and more debt.

David L. Corn

Grow Avenue