Today's Feature

Police and Fire Pension Issue Returns.

Carthage City Council met Tuesday evening. Mayor Johnson was not in attendance following a knee-replacement surgery and Mayor Pro-Tem Jim Woestman led the meeting. Council member Bill Welch was also absent from the meeting.

Council member and Finance Committee member Dave Woods made a motion to postpone a discussion of the proposed Police and Fire pension changes until the next Council meeting when the Mayor and full Council would be present. The motion was approved. Those in favor were Diane Sharits, Jackie Boyer, Bill Johnson, Tom Flanigan, Dave Woods, Claude Newport and Mike Harris. Ronnie Wells opposed the motion.

Finance/Personnel Chair Ronnie Wells reported that the Finance Committee had met earlier on Tuesday and had further discussed the issue. This proposed pension increase includes the possibility of implementing a quarter-cent fire tax which would create revenues in the estimated amount of $400,000 per year to fund the Fire Department, leaving approximately the same amount free in the general fund to be used for pension increases for the Police and Fire departments.

Wells outlined the committee plan to bring the issue before Council for discussion and to decide whether or not the issue should be put to a public vote. The item came without a recommendation because committee members Dave Woods and Diane Sharits were in favor of a recommendation to take the issue to public vote and Wells and Tom Flanigan were against the recommendation.

There are those on the Council that are supportive of the proposed fire tax with the revenue goin’, in a roundabout way, to the fire and police pension fund.

They point out that if the community wants to attract and retain high quality officers and firemen, it is necessary.

Most members don’t disagree that a quality retirement is justified to some extent, but they argue that the $400,000 or so the tax would generate each year could be used for other community-wide services, or should be spread between all City departments.

There are some who just think the public should have the opportunity to make the decision. Some think taxes are high enough now.

Before any new tax can be imposed, the community must give the final decision.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Dear Tom and Ray:

I recently heard about filling tires with nitrogen gas to maintain pressure and lengthen tread life. Since the air we breathe is 78 percent nitrogen, I fail to see how much benefit you actually get from changing from air to nitrogen. The creators of this are selling it as a safety issue. I’d hate to be scammed into paying for premium air. I’m seeing Starbucks-style gasoline boutiques in the near future. What do you guys think? - Rob

TOM: My first thought is, I’m putting all my money into Airbucks!

RAY: Like many sales pitches, the nitrogen idea has a molecule of truth in it. You’re right that air is about 80 percent nitrogen already. The rest is made up of oxygen, argon, water vapor, cat dander, bad breath and coal-plant particulates. Atmospheric air is good enough for filling your tires.

TOM: Pure nitrogen has a couple of advantages. One is that it expands and contracts less under hot and cold temperatures than a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and water vapor. That can be an advantage if you’re in, say, a race car driving at 200 mph around a track where tiny differences can really matter.

RAY: Nitrogen also doesn’t support combustion like oxygen does. So it’s unlikely to fuel a fire started in some other part of the car if a tire explodes.

TOM: And finally, both the oxygen and the small percentage of moisture in the atmospheric air can contribute to degradation of your tires and wheels. But think about it: The outsides are exposed to air all the time, so what are you worried about the insides for?

RAY: So, none of these advantages is important to the average driver. They just don’t matter enough to ever think about. And they certainly don’t matter enough to pay for, Rob.