Budget Season Begins.

Tuesday evening the Budget Ways and Means Committee held their monthly meeting. The committee is preparing the City of Carthage’s budget for the 2004 fiscal year.

According to City Administrator Tom Short the general funds budget is going to be tight. There is approximately 6.5 million general fund dollars and approximately 7.2 million dollars requested. The next month will consist of meetings with various departments, planing and possibly cutbacks in the budget.

According to Committee Chair Jackie Boyer the Committee is being very conservative, planing for a worse case scenario.

Representatives from the Carthage Library, including Library Board President Leann Brown, were also at the meeting answering questions. The Library is asking for the Council’s support in putting a 3/16th parks and storm water sales tax increase on the November ballot for construction of a new Library and a operating expenses. According to Brown the tax will only pay for about half of the projects. The Library will seek funding from private organizations for the rest of the money.

Talked to a guy from Fayetteville yesterday (who, by the way, had just spent over four hundred bucks in Carthage) and he was impressed with the community. Said if he wasn’t so settled in Arkansas he’d be lookin’ to move here. Said a couple a friends had already made the move to Carthage.

I suppose the point bein’ that sometimes it’s easy to pick out things ya think could be improved and loose sight of all the benefits that come ever’day. Talkin’ to an outsider sometimes puts things in perspective and makes ya appreciate what Carthage has ta offer.

If ya look back over the last couple a years, the biggest squabble we’ve had is figurin’ out what ta call the best golf course in SW Missouri. Now there’s some Carthage history.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Carthage Printing

HERE’S A TIP

By JoAnn Derson

• "I make my own flavored tea by melting hard candy in a bit of hot water. I then add that to the brewed iced tea and it sweetens as well as flavors it." — Jackie S. from Cedar Key, Fla.

• Holly from Colorado writes: "I got this great hint from my grandmother — freeze leftover coffee in an ice-cube tray. Then, when you want to cool your coffee to sipping temperature, just add a coffee ice cube. It cools a cup quickly without weakening it. It’s just great!"

• "Whenever a recipe calls for egg whites only, I crack the eggs gently into a funnel. The whites go through the hole, and the yolks stay in the funnel. I sometimes boil the yolks to use in salad later." — Eddie M. of Little Rock, Ark.

• Looking for ways to spice up your walking routine? Try skipping, walking backward and side-shuffling.

• Keep tools from rusting by storing a handful of mothballs in your toolbox.

• Five easy ways to minimize your likelihood of getting varicose veins: avoid tight clothes; get regular exercise; elevate feet for 20 minutes a day; keep leg muscles active by moving around; avoid high heels or other shoes that restrict calf movement.

• One of the most important things you can do for your face: Wear sunscreen every day.