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Show Use MX money constructively It's becoming a truism that bureaucracy spawns on itself, and nowhere is this more evident than in all the money being spent and the positions being created around the current MX mania in the area. The Four-County MX Policy Board fiscal year budget for 1980 consisted con-sisted of a mere, 210,700, not even a quarter of a million dollars. Included In-cluded in that budget was a $30,000 provision for a coordinator for the group. The coordinator also had a secretary, costing $13,400. The two of them received fringe benefits totalling $9,700, and the coordinator, staff and board were alloted $32,500 for travel expenses. The budget was quietly passed. Afterall, a quarter of a million dollars is peanuts to those who spend the government's, the taxpayer's, money. This year, however, we cannot keep quiet. The same group this year has a total budget of $750,000. Ralph Starr, who has since been hired as the coordinator for the group, has proposed himself a budget of $40,000, up 25 percent from last year, far ahead of even today's high inflation rate. In addition, Starr has asked for an assistant, at $35,000, even higher than Starr's original salary. Also, the proposal raises the secretary's budget to $15,000 and fringe benefits to $22,500. In addition $60,000 has been allocated for travel expenses for the coordinator, staff and board members. That's a total of $172,500 in personnel and travel expenses, almost as much as last year's total budget. Commendably, the members of the board at their meeting last week passed the budget, but left open for negotiations the $90,000 alloted for salaries. Yet, the problem is still basic not only to this local group, but to government in general. The government has alloted the MX group three quarters of a million dollars, and now the group must find a way to spend it. County Commissioner S. Garth Jones who, along with Mayor Jack Sawyers and School Board Representative Klien Rollo, objected to the high salaries put it best: "I am ashamed," he said, adding that the high salaries were a result of the money source being two pockets away, state then federal. Certainly, those whom we elect, hire or appoint must become more responsible to the taxpayers who are paying their salaries. There is going to be a lot of money for various phases of the MX project floating around the area, and certainly everybody is going to want part of it. But that money ultimately comes from citizens' pockets. Certainly there are better uses for it than inflated salaries and giant expense accounts. Schools must be built, and services must be expanded. Responsible fiscal policy has been a desire of citizens for some time now, but with the MX project it finally hits very close to home. Millions of dollars are going to be spent. The Record calls upon those who are members of the Five-County MX Policy Board to act responsibly, to remember that we, the taxpayers, are footing the bill. |