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| Leaders faced with difficult financial decisions |
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| Opinion - Editorials | |||
| Written by Brian McCauley | |||
| Wednesday, 14 January 2009 08:00 | |||
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Nica Clark once said, “Money isn’t everything. It’s just most everything.” Sometimes it seems like money is what makes the world go round, and in today’s struggling economy, the world isn’t spinning near as fast as most people would like. Two financially-strapped entities collided Monday night when representatives of the Paola American Legion asked Paola USD 368 school board members for an increase in funding to cover expensive maintenance bills as well as an immediate need to replace the lighting at Russell Field in Wallace Park. School board president Amiee Seck said everybody on the board acknowledges the importance of the field to the youths who play baseball, but she also said the board is between a rock and hard place, just like the Legion. State funding projections for next year and beyond are dismal at best, and superintendent Rod Allen said there will be a work session on Jan. 26 to discuss potential budget cuts. In a budget dominated by staffing, it’s no secret that jobs will be on the line. “Things are looking very serious for next year,” Allen said. If push comes to shove, a staffing position is going to be kept over baseball field lights, and rightfully so, but school board members should follow through on their openness Monday night to consider increasing funding for the fields in the future. While now may be the worst possible time for school officials to take on a new expenditure, it’s not unrealistic to think that sometime in the near future the district could help pay off the $40,000 being borrowed by the Legion to install new lights at Russell Field. Once budget time comes around, the district needs to seriously consider allotting more funds to the field where its high school baseball team calls home, while at the same time keeping in mind that there are other sports like soccer that still need facilities as well. It’s a difficult time for government officials watching the bottom line. Let’s hope all city and school officials always remember their role as public servants and keep the taxpayers’ financial plan as fiscally sound as their home budget.
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