Mr. Mayor,

On tonight’s agenda, we have several big ticket items that range from stimulus grant money to loans to normal expenditures. The total amount of money that impacts our balance sheet and future obligations of our city is over $4.1 million dollars. That’s a lot of dough.

One of the very first votes I took on this council last year was to agree to purchase a piece of property offered by a bank at well-below potential market value. As an average human, I saw the value of the property, saw the opportunity to gain that for my city, and disregarded the larger question of how it played out during the budget negotiations that seemed far into the future. However, I have regretted that vote ever since. Just because it was a good deal—a once in a decade steal of a deal, if you will—was not enough of a reason to take from the general fund. The proper purpose of government is to protect life, liberty, property and punish injustice. Mr. Mayor, as austere as this may sound, I recommend that my fellow council members remember tonight that for every purchase that is not absolutely necessary, we place at risk the necessary expenditures yet to come. For every dollar that we spend on something that is just a good deal rather than an essential contract, we place at risk the taxpayer’s obligation to pay for both.

It is my understanding that as we go into our next year’s budget negotiations, we will potentially cut funding for the West Columbia Gorge Humane Society. It is also quite likely that we will reduce the funding for the Children’s Home Society across from City Hall. In addition to cutting funding for those two organizations, we may need to find other places in the budget to cut. From what I can tell, we may need to do that as well as reject any discretionary funding in order to balance the City’s budget. However, that really isn’t news to our constituents. Many of them are in exactly the same boat of having to prioritize the necessary spending and eliminate the discretionary spending. When we need to tighten the belt, I suggest that we examine every agenda item in light of whether it is an absolute need or whether it is just a good deal. I suggest that we restrict our appetite for good deals and concentrate upon the absolutely necessary deals.

It would be far better for us to follow the wisdom of living within our means, paying down our debt, and saving for future expenditures.

I yield the floor.