Tonight’s City Council Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting (7:00 p.m., City Hall) is scheduled to be devoted to two committees: Public Works and Public Safety. So we were more than a little curious to see that one of the Public Works’ discussion items on the agenda is titled “Subsidy for Overhead Sewers.”
A discussion of overhead sewers and their desirability as flood control measures is clearly a Public Works issue. But as we understand the English language, “subsidy” involves money; and money issues have historically been the province of the City’s Finance & Budget Committee (“F&B”), chaired by Ald. Rich DiPietro (2nd Ward).
So what gives?
Could it be that Public Works Committee chairman Ald. Don Bach (3rd Ward) is trying to hi-jack that discussion for himself and his fellow PW committee member, Ald. Frank Wsol? After all, Bach is an ardent supporter of Wsol’s plan to spend $420,000 this year alone on “rebates” of as much as $2,500 per residence for the installation of flood control systems – such as overhead sewers – even though this year’s budget is already more than $2.5 million in deficit.
Back during the F&B portion of the July 6, 2009, City Council meeting, Wsol tried to push through both his “rebate” proposal and his proposal for suspending permit fees – but DiPietro raised a point of order to those matters being presented to the full Council without first being addressed and forwarded by the F&B Committee. City Attorney Buzz Hill upheld DiPietro’s point of order, and those matters were referred to the July 13, 2009, Finance & Budget COW meeting.
At that July 13th COW meeting, however, nothing about flood control was discussed during the F&B portion. Instead, it was addressed during the Public Works portion. Although City Mgr. Jim Hock, joined by Mayor Dave Schmidt, suggested waiting until the Flood Control Task Force completes its report and recommendations for how flooding should be addressed before talking about how any of those recommendations could be paid for, Wsol continued to push for spending money on his rebate program now, even mentioning increasing property taxes to pay for his program.
It’s pretty obvious that Wsol and Bach are leading the rebate charge and don’t care whether the City has to tax or borrow that money so long as they can dish out the rebate goodies – without waiting for the Flood Control Task Force’s final report. That’s the ready-fire-aim way these things go when taxpayer money is burning a hole in the politicians’ pockets.