Pay Now or Pay Later

Well, here's some more for the list of how we are going to be paying for the ineptitude of our legislative body for years to come. In a recent article sent by my son, his local irrigation district has decided to postpone infrastructure projects (as well as leave unfilled positions vacant) in an effort to trim $2.8 million dollars from their budget. But ...

Postponing maintenance projects now won’t make the work go away. In coming years, the projects could become more expensive capitol costs, Nelson said. “We know we have aging infrastructure needing more and more maintenance all the time,” Nelson said.

Oh, well, let's put our thumb in the dike for now. What's being left off the list? Pipeline replacement and painting projects - but what's some pipe and paint? Maybe the paint will flake into the pipes and they can drink it.

Next is a little closer to home. We received notification that our local transit company wouldn't be able to make flex stops to deliver students to our parenting teen program - without extra compensation and some strict rules. Thinking this was some bizarre unfairness, I went to speak to the transportation manager. What I found out was that in an effort to trim costs and prepare for funding cuts, our local transit company is evaluating all transit costs and, as the old saying goes, trying to get "the greatest bang for their buck" (a saying I personally detest and they didn't use!). What I hear the state funding bodies saying is let them eat cake - opps, wrong era - let them find their own way to school. So, we, once again, leave those with the least, with less. These are students who are struggling, who will cost us soooo much more if we can't educate them and provide them with parenting skill. They will remain dependent on subsidy programs while the big boys take payments for expenses that they refuse to realize are just a different kind of subsidy. Will it end? Not with just a new round of cuts and taxes. This is not a battle that will end today, even if the budget is passed. We will pay for a long time and not just with greenbacks.