Ah the glories of a sales tax to generate extra revenue for McCook City coffers. Additional revenue that could be spent on special projects such as was done with the one cent tax instituted in 2002 and the authority for which will expire next year is the goal. The projects included the restored swimming pool, an expanded senior center, air-conditioning for the auditorium, not to mention the city offices, lighting for the ballpark all of which were extolled at the sales tax promotional meeting a few of us attended last Tuesday.

Best of all was the pie chart showing that the citizens of McCook only give 15 cents of their property tax dollar for city government whereas the County of Red Willow gets 17 cents and the McCook schools well over half of that same dollar. The pie chart was a little deceptive because it didn't include any of the sales taxes paid into the budget of the City. I say deceptive because no matter which pocket the sales tax comes from, it is still a tax and should be recognized.

I thought it a bit ironic that on the day of McCook's Sales Tax meeting I also read a piece by one of my favorite columnists, Thomas Sewell. Sewell was addressing the crisis of the moment in the US, the failing bridge infrastructure. Professor Sewell is of the opinion the politicians tend to spend money on glamorous projects that reflect well in the short term, especially for their reelection and the mundane ongoing preventative maintenance projects get ignored. Lets see, air-conditioning for the auditorium, the wonderful new senior center, awesome ball park lighting, humm!

McCook has a huge debt hanging over its head due to the gold plated but State forced water purification project now completed but of course the long term debt continues. A million dollars of that debt will be paid off by the excess revenue generated by the present sales tax and that is a good start.

Over the years McCook has sadly neglected its underground water system which I understand has an abundance of valves that no longer operate, pipes that are corroded and break with great regularity along with other problems associated with age. It was a major project to clean and repaint the large overhead storage towers as shabby as they were getting when we bit the bullet and contracted the work done. Lately the water superintendents and crews have replaced meters that have grown old and inoperative, valves that won't work and some water lines with the limited funds they have to work with. But you see, such buried lines have finite service lives and therefore portions of the system should be replaced every year to keep the system healthy and viable. The same goes for the sewer system yet it is tough to get money allocated to do the necessary preventative maintenance.

Part of the problem is the required system of accounting used by the City. Sewer, water and a few others are accounted for as enterprise funds meaning that all costs are supposed to be covered by the revenue they generate. One of the costs of doing business is the required cycle of preventative maintenance. The problem is that to catch up with past neglect would result in exorbitant water/sewer rates hence the reluctance to do the necessary repair and replacement. Just one example is the ongoing J Street resurfacing project, long needed and overdue. I understand that there is an eight inch water main buried under J Street and what a wonderful time to inspect, replace or upgrade that line before running the eight inches of concrete pavement on top of it. We have the money to fix the street but not enough money to replace the waterline under it at the same time so a golden opportunity to improve the system gets wasted. One solution would be an infusion of cash from the general fund which may be a good reason to justify renewing the sales tax.

The push for renewal of the sales tax will be heating up until the upcoming special election takes place. I urge each of us to listen carefully to what the supporters and detractors from the tax present for reasons to justify or deny the renewal of the authority to continue to collect the tax. I for one would like to be assured that the City has the foresight and is frugal enough to operate without the constant need for ever more infusions of extra cash.

That is the way I see it.