City budget carries a positive message

When elected officials talk about plans and priorities, you can never quite be sure whether they have any intention of following through. But budgets don't lie.

Carson City's proposed budget carries a reassuring message that all the talk about defeating the plague of meth is more than just talk.

It would provide two more sheriff's deputies to fight drug-related crimes, at a cost of about $172,000. While that may seem a modest reinforcement against such a tenacious foe, it comes at a time when the city is eliminating or freezing other positions to cut expenses. The city also proposes to continue funding Partnership Carson City, the group that has drawn up the battle plan against meth.

We applaud the city for listening to residents who have been saying that solving the drug problem is priority No. 1. The drug is at the root of many of our problems and any dollar that goes toward its eradication is a dollar well spent.

The other messages in the budget are not quite so reassuring. The city must and is cutting to the bone to prepare for an uncertain economic future. Sales tax revenue, the city's life blood, is lower than expected. Without the ability to raise taxes, the city has to look at more and more cuts.

But it won't all come from the expense side. Residents will take a hit by paying more on their utility bills as the city proposes to increase franchise fees.

The solutions to those problems won't come easily and harder times may be ahead, but it's reassuring to know the city has not only listened to its residents, but is acting on what it's heard.