Budget-writing

is one of those sausage-making types of exercises.

You're better

off not watching the entire process, because it ain't particularly pretty.

But because

you pay me the big bucks, I watch the process for you. The doctor says

I'll recover in a few weeks, but the nightmares might last a little longer.

Anyway, I sat

through the County Commission's budgeting process this past week. Of course,

what I witnessed was the tip of the iceberg. Before the commissioners

had their chance to go over the proposed budget line by line, the finance

director and county administrator sat down with each department head,

cutting items that the department heads couldn't convince them should

stay.

Then the commissioners

sat down with the department heads, giving each one a chance to go over

the administrators' heads and convince the commissioners that the items

cut should have been left in. And the commissioners, in turn, grilled

the department heads on items individual commissioners thought the taxpayers

might be better off without.

That part of

the process took about 13 hours. For about a minute and a half every hour

or so, the air was humming with newsworthy information that I felt you

couldn't do without. The rest of the time was pretty much like waiting

for hair to grow on a billiard ball.

A couple of

casual observations:

First, the

commissioners by and large do the best they can to save you money, and

so do the people who run the county's daily operations. That doesn't mean

you won't disagree with some of their decisions, but it does mean I couldn't

see where anyone was taking the responsibility lightly.

Second, Commissioner

Linda Wells can squeeze a nickel until it bleeds. There is no line item

expenditure too small for her to question. Whether that's criticism or

praise depends on your own mind set, I suppose. It's just an observation.

One potentially

important program, it seemed to this disinterested observer, fell victim

to the ongoing dispute over tax equity between the county and local cities,

and if I'm reading the situation right, that's a shame.

Unless something

changes before the final vote, commissioners have cut from the budget

the Keep Fayette Beautiful program, which has hovered on the fringes of

viability ever since it was formed in the mid-'80s.

Commissioners

have funded a mere $25,000 for the program every year since 1985, stating

each time that it is not the county's intention to provide the lion's

share of funding. If local cities, business and industry and the public

would get behind the program, the county would be glad to help out.

But for various

reasons, the cities would never kick in, and the program has limped along

with mostly volunteer help, in-kind contributions, a little money here

or there from industry, and the lion's share of its funding coming from

the county.

Perhaps not

in previous years, but possibly in more recent ones, city fathers may

have considered requests for funding for Keep Fayette Beautiful with,

in the backs of their minds, the feeling that city residents aren't getting

what they deserve in terms of services from the county.

Perhaps there

was, in the minds of some, justification for feeling that the county should

shoulder the entire beautification program. Maybe they just didn't have

the money, I don't know.

Whatever the

reasons for the lack of support elsewhere, commissioners this year decided

they've had enough. They'll consider getting back on the bandwagon in

the future if there is a bandwagon to get on, but they're not pulling

the whole cart alone anymore.

If money isn't

found elsewhere, the program will probably die, because there won't be

any paid staff.

It's a shame.

I've seen programs like this in other communities, and they can be a tremendous

part of the quality of life. They can do a huge service just by saving

landfill space, and the educational work they do, plus the old-fashioned

volunteer cleanup work they sponsor, can be key components of the glue

that turns a collection of subdivisions into a community.

True, Fayette

is cleaner than most communities. Maybe it's hard to get people fired

up about the idea of picking up trash off the highway, but a Keep America

Beautiful program is much, much more than that.

The ball is

in your court, community. Civic clubs, industries, individuals, city governments

... each one wouldn't have to chip in much to finally get this program

off the ground.

What do you

say?