Want Lists Revealed.

The City Council Budget/Ways and Means committee met in Council chambers Monday evening to begin hearing requests from department heads for capital improvement funds. The Committee is beginning the budget process early this year to help make the public aware of the Council’s objectives in asking for a continuation of a half-cent capital improvement sales tax.

"The plan," stated City Administrator Tom Short in a memo to Council members, "is to use the Five-year CIP (Capital Improvement Program) as the justification of the extension of the Capital Improvements Sales Tax which expires in March 2012."

The question of whether to continue the tax for twenty years will come in February, 2011. The tax is estimated to generate approximately $800,000 a year, or approximately $16 million over the twenty-year life of the tax.

The total requests by department heads, which are typically cut drastically in the budget process, totaled approximately $30 million for the next five years.

The Committee also voted to not ask for a vote on the Library ad-valorem tax.

There is prob’ly nothin’ more traumatic a thing than pickin’ sides as a kid.

Course, after a couple a choices, then there are two to three huddlin’ together decidin’ who’s gonna be picked next. Now we have humiliation by committee.

Even worse than bein’ last is when some well meanin’ captain says somethin’ like, "Ok, we’ll take him and give you Jimmy, and still be able to beat ya."

There’s little doubt that choosin’ sides is a fair undertakin’. Each side ends up with a fairly equal alignment for competition.

Sometimes, just for kicks, it was fun to let Jimmy and the next to last pick be captains. Usually we ended up with about the same team, ever’one just felt better.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

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Weekly Columns

HERE’S A TIP

By JoAnn Derson

• Here’s another great clothespin tip: "Clothespin plus dish towel equals baby bib (or Uncle Frank bib, in some cases)." -- T.R. in Missouri

• "To hand-wash clothes, fill a washer with water and add detergent. Add clothes that you need to hand-wash, and let run in machine 1 minute or less (longer if soiled). Then take the clothes out and place in a clean bucket or hip pan to rinse out. Hang or lay flat to dry. You can use the wash water to do the next load of normal wash." -- E.B. in Mississippi

• "Put on and dampen a pair of rubber gloves, then run your hands over your upholstery to pick up excess pet hair. This works really well on the backs of our couches, which is where our cats love to sleep." -- W.L. in New Mexico

• If you need to make large ice cubes, try using an egg carton as an ice-cube tray. You can make a whole dozen and put them in a gallon-size plastic baggie. They’re great for punch in large bowls, adding to iced tea in the pitcher and for packing coolers, since they melt slower than regular ice cubes.

• Hang a suncatcher with dental floss. You probably have some around the house, and it’s pretty strong.

• "If the soles of your shoes are too new, they can be slippery. I find that I can rough up the soles of my shoes with an emery board or a small piece of fine-grit sandpaper. I don’t want to slip, and the rougher surface helps on some of my nicer dress shoes that don’t get a lot of wear." -- C.L. in Pennsylvania