Fromstaff reports

Once again the city of Austin has said "We will if they will," to a project.

Thursday, April 13, 2000

Once again the city of Austin has said "We will if they will," to a project.

This time it was ponying up $5,000 for the Mower County Historical Society, and the "they" in question are the county commissioners.

On project after project, the city and county are balking over just how much the one will give without a matching effort from the other.

It’s clear the two groups need to sit down more often and discuss just how often they’ll be throwing joint money at projects, and how they can at least try to not seem bitter about the contributions of the others.

It’s true, there’s money on both sides to be used on projects, and often it’s appropriate for both groups to take an active role. However, withholding funding because the county (or the county withholding because the city) has plenty and doesn’t seem to be sharing properly only hurts the folks these governmental bodies promise to help.

The city should hope, yes, that the county will give $5,000 to the Historical Society. That doesn’t mean it should stop the city from doing the same, if the county doesn’t.