Opinion by Samuel Strait – April 6, 2022 There is only so much a person can do when government has money to burn and absolutely no vision of what they are doing now will only add to the financial burden in the future, when there is no money to burn. On Monday, the local Transportation Commission approved placing $400,000 more dollars into the hands of the City to commence with the ill advised "pig with lipstick", also known as the "black hole" called Front Street. The total bill should Front Street be completed as near to the 2015 Master Plan will close on $20 million. Add the Beach Front Park face lift and the City Pool, we are looking at closer to $30 million. Sure the City Fathers will say most of it is "grant money", but the reality is that it comes from some place too, some of it from your pockets… What is sad, is the fact that once the $30 million is gone for all the "new" stuff, it then becomes the City's task to make sure it stays looking good, managing it, and providing maintenance, not exactly a cheap prospect. The City Council is hot to spend the money they currently have in hand and is oblivious to what happens afterwards, after all, they can claim to have "done it, let the suckers who come after us worry about how to keep it together". Nearly $400,000 per year just to back fill the short fall maintaining the pool, no telling how much the rest will cost. Again, who cares, except those that are still around and have to pay for it. It is a chronic issue with government, particularly when they receive baskets full of grant funding and new tax revenue. The wish list becomes possible in a way it never otherwise would have. The Council has received several windfalls over the past year and it is burning a hole in their pockets to spend it as fast as they can. No thought to the future, just spend it willy nilly as if the sky will never fall. The $2.2 million dollars projected to have come from Measure "S" money can now be used for police, fire, and emergency services, something that should be priority number one for the City's General Fund. But, No, now with the Measure"S" money to spend in those three areas, VOILA, it opens up the General Fund check book to the tune of $750,000 for……THE FRONT STREET PROJECT! SOMETHING THAT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE OTHERWISE. Will wonders never cease…Ordinarily the City's General Fund takes care of most of the expense of police, fire, and emergency services. The funding available through that source may not provide the ability of those departments to fill their wish lists, but it is normally adequate to provide the level of service necessary. The Measure "S" money wasn't supposed to increase staffing levels or pay for staff that would typically be funded in the City's normal operating costs. When the City can leverage Measure "S" money to "Take Care" of regular services, low and behold, suddenly the City has $750,000 to pump into the Front Street extravaganza. How surprised am I….. Lest we not forget, the County of Del Norte also has a new slush fund known as Measure"R" which is currently being utilized in the same fashion as the City. Generous raises that ordinarily would not be possible for the most part with the County's General Fund are suddenly possible. New employees in the various departments other than police, fire, and emergency services are suddenly possible. Expansion of both the police and emergency services with new employees now possible. Various departments suddenly have room in their respective budgets to start filling that wish list that was always just out of the department budget's reach. Curious how all that works. Oh, you were expecting the Citizen's Oversight Committee to head all that off and keep it on track. Fat Chance! As we have recently learned from the experience with the Del Norte Unified School District's COC, they have no power to protect the public period. As the School district's needs changed with time, the promises as to how to spend the money were jettisoned with unseemly haste to fund fairy tales and puppy dog tails that the District had no other means to fund. Say rapidly increasing teacher salaries and benefits? Sounds oh so familiar, as I believe both the City and the County have gone to that well just recently. 3% raises for City employees, and 7% to 12% for the County's poverty stricken crew. This can be corrected; however, in November when the repeal of both Measure "R" and "S" will be up for a redo. Between now and then both governments will be "gaslighting" the public about how desperate the need for the continuation of both tax measures is critical for the continuing level of service offered by both. The reality is that both must "get real" and begin to find ways to live within their means like everyone else. The public does not have the luxury of going down the street to their neighbors asking for money to buy things that are on a wish list. Both the City and the County need to learn that lesson as well……..