I live in a small town within a larger city. Let me explain. Our town is approximately 1-2 square miles, depends on who you ask. It is in the city limits of a much larger town. Why the town was originally incorporated I haven't a clue. But, nevertheless we have our own government. Complete with Mayor, Town Council, Police Force and all the BS. There is a long, ongoing feud between the Mayor and Police Department. It came to a head recently. I just received a letter from the Mayor which in part states:
Dear Citizen:
As you are aware the Town Council has voted unanimously to abolish the police department effective March 13, 2006. This will leave the police chief in place, but does away with the seventeen members of the department.
Hello, did I miss something here. We will have a Chief in charge of nobody. The letter states financial reasons for abolishing the police force. Hey, People in charge. Here is an idea. Save even more. If you going to do away with the deputies in order to save money get rid of the Chief, too. He won't be busy if he doesn't have a department to run.
As a single mother of three boys, I have learned to cut expenses and be practical. I have a few tips for my town. I have lived in this town for three years and I have been associated with it for ten. I see on a daily basis a few areas they could cut expenses in other than the police force. Try cutting out the unnecessary and impractical expenses.
1. "Holiday Lights" aka Christmas lights. For a small town they do it up big. For the last month and still they have lights up and on all over town. There is a complete "Christmas Town" all lit up. There is nothing in this town. Just five or six buildings all completely decorated in lights and accessories. I guess it is where they store all the lights and decorations the rest of the year. I am not against decorating, but if you need save money cut the unnecessary things first. I'm sure the electric costs on all of these lights are not cheap. Save there.
2. Flowers. Every spring and fall they plant flowers everywhere. Yes, it looks nice, but again not a necessity.
3. Nix the 4th of July fireworks. They do not bring people and money into our community. Our town in small enough everyone just sits on their front porches and watches. Again, they are nice, but not necessary.
They have to pay someone to do all of these things. If you want to continue ask for donations and volunteers to do these. It's called Community involvement. I know that is a hard thing to get, but get to know your neighbors and help each other.
I'm sure if I really got into the politics and business I could find numerous way to cut expenses. They are usually obvious if you look for them.
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