Thursday, May 19, 2011

Mayor to seniors: Start walking

As commissioners continue to pick through county Mayor Tim Burchett's proposed budget, they continue to find more and more cuts that are ticking them off.

The latest?

A large reduction to the KAT Senior Initiative. That's where the county issues coin to the seniors to ride the bues for free. I believe Burchett's predecessor, Mike Ragsdale, initially added the money to the budget early on in his first term of office.

Last year, the county funded the program at $75,000. It's currently down to $70,000 and Burchett proposes dropping that to $25,000. From what I understand, there will be some discussion about the move on Monday when commissioners address the proposed spending plan.

“It's a very tough year and it's a year to make touch decisions,” Burchett told me today when I asked him if he hates seniors. “In lieu of a tax increase, this would be much more tolerable. A tax increase would be more detrimental to the seniors.”

Well, you certainly can't say the mayor is playing politics on this one. Seniors like to vote.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

With KAT's record, i say the mayor is doing seniors a favor.