Carlson ain't no Charles Maldonado, that is for certain. His local knowledge is unbelievably weak. The Metro Pulse has changed a lot since being purchased by the dark side of the force.

And yesterday in the talking heads segment on "Tennessee This Week" Metro Pulse editor Jesse Mayshark said the Metro Pulse is better now than it used to be before the dark side purchase. Really? And then Mayshark said that presumed next County Mayor Tim Burchett was being lobbied to keep some of Mike Ragsdale's staff because, wait for it, "They are doing a pretty job good".

Someone should check the water supply to the coffee maker.

(link...)

Those named by R. Neal are Dems running for election in the general, but there are no contested Democratic primaries in commission. Probably could have worded that better.

You can debate the wisdom of drawing on the rainy-day fund in this year's budget, but it's a pretty defensible choice given the options -- which would be more layoffs and cuts in public services.

Thanks for that, Jesse. Not sure I support Larry's call for new taxes in this environment of 10% (-ish) unemployment, nor Lewis' proposal to cut services while the county sits on tax revenues already collected and placed in a "rainy day" savings account. Sure feels like the "rainy days" are upon us right now...

WRT to this reserve-tapping option, though, does anyone know whether the county has to maintain some set level of "rainy day" funds, relative to the size of their budget? I know the school system has to maintain 3% of their budget in reserves, for instance.

I ask because the county's reserve balances appear to be running way more than 3% of their budget in recent years. Maybe 8% or so?

Anyway, provided taking from these two county reserve funds doesn't cause us to drop below statuatory minimums, the $$$ to maintain services is there already.

(Yeah, I realize the problem will be passed on to the next mayor to deal with. The next governor is in for the same rude surprise, I expect.)

$9, one thing I can't seem to wrap my brain around is the fascination with not spending any of the "rainy day fund".

Philosophically, should we NEVER spend money from the fund balance? If not, what's it for? If so, what would be an appropriate circumstance?

I have no doubt thee is lots of fat to be cut in numerous departments, from the mayor's office to the fiefdoms. Cosby is specifc in referencing the new position in the mayor's office and the positions of C.A.O. and C.O.S.

Very generously, that may save $500,000k

He also references take home cars and car allowances. He's not very specific here. Does this include property assesor vehicles? Administrative staff in the sheriff's office? Is it any and all throughout county government?

I have no idea how many cars that includes, and I'm assuming there is a big difference between stopping take home priveleges and selling vehicles. Want to stop the Law Director, Chief of Staff, CAO, etc. from having a take home car? I can go for that.

What about mileage? Since they will be driving their own cars, would the county reimburse mileage? They're getting paid a lot, so most would probably go along with that. Definitely some savings there.

What about codes enforcers? Not going to let them drive home? Ok. Surely, we'll not sell these vehicles though. How much will that really save?

Let's say this whole take unspecific take-home car issue Cosby proposes specifically to take place Sept 1 saves $1 million (this seems ridiculously high here, but benefit of the doubt).

That, generously, gives us $1.5 million in savings he's proposing. Good job. Way to go.

What about the other $16 million? How many more staff positions can we cut or cars do we need to sell? I'm guessing there aren't enough cars in the fleet.

I have absolutely no problem if Commission wants to buck up and demand some of these cuts be made BEFORE tapping the reserves. However, I don't see a way to make up the funding gap without a tax icrease or tapping fund balances. And as Tamara points out, isn't that what they are for?

I'd love someone to take a hard look at expenses AT ALL of county government (from engineering and parks to the mayor's office and fiefdoms), but so far Cosby's playing in the margins.