Budget Process Begins Tonight.

The Budget Hearings for the 1999/2000 City fiscal year begin this evening in City Hall at 6:30. The agenda includes presentations by City Departments to the Budget/Ways and Means Committee. The process will continue tomorrow evening with the presentation of requests for funding by outside agencies. The four member Budget Committee will recommend a perfected budget for the approval of the full Council.

A series of long range capital improvement meetings have been conducted by the Committee earlier in the year with the purpose of shortening the amount of time needed for the annual budget hearings. The recommendations resulting from those meeting have not been formally reviewed by the full Council at this time, but will be a consideration in the approval of next year’s budget. The most pressing of the capital improvements brought before the Committee is the $100,000 in computers for the Police Department. A consultant has informed the Department that the new equipment will be needed to make the system compliant for the year 2000. Most of the Department’s computers are outdated.

Commentary

Martin "Bubs" Hohulin

State Representative, District 126

As I write this it is the beginning of the day that everyone’s taxes are due. I thought I would use the occasion to write an update on how the tax cutting efforts are shaping up in Jefferson City.

About the only thing that can be agreed on is that taxes in Missouri need to be cut. The reasons why can’t even be agreed upon. I, along with many of my fellow republicans, think they need to be cut simply because the tax burden in Missouri has grown faster in Missouri the last six years than in any other state. Along with that, state government has been one of the fastest growing employers in the state.

We think state government has gotten too big and too intrusive and needs to be reigned in. The only way to do this is to cut off the money supply. As I’ve written in earlier columns, if money is available, politicians and bureaucrats will spend it, usually in ways that require more money in following years. It seems very easy to start a new program here, but very hard to end an old one.

Sometimes it is hard to end one that never even started! An example is the recently defeated 911 proposal that was on the election a couple weeks ago.

When we were doing the Budget, there was a request to hire someone to direct it, along with the corresponding expenses. When I challenged that, saying that the measure hadn’t even been voted on yet, I was told that we needed this person to be there when (not if) it passed. When I pressed them, they said that in the unlikely event that it didn’t pass, they would find another position for this person. I asked what work was going undone now that this person would be doing and didn’t receive an answer. I really believe the only reason a job should be created is that there is work to be done and someone is willing to pay for it to be done. The idea that a state funded job is to provide someone with a paycheck is why our state phone book continues to grow every year.

We have proposed several hundred million dollars in broad based tax relief, but have been blocked at every turn by Gov. Carnahan and the democrat leadership. They contend that the only reason we need to cut taxes is because the Hancock Amendment says we have to and that we will only cut as much as we have to. They contend that the amount we need to cut is about $190 million and not any more.

In past years they determined the amount that needed to be cut and have almost always underestimated it to where sometimes refund checks still needed to be sent out. It has gotten to be a routine that Gov. Carnahan will give his estimate of how much needs to be cut, we say it needs to be more and should be even more than that and sometimes it even goes above our estimate.

My prediction is that a tax cut will pass in the amount of what the democrats are trying to hold it to, the amount mandated by the Constitution will turn out to be higher and refund checks will still have to be issued.

As usual, I can be reached at House Post Office, State Capitol, Jefferson City, MO 65101 or 1-800-878-7126 or mhohulin@services.state.mo.us for your questions, comments, or advice.

Just Jake Talkin'
Mornin',

In case some of ya are wonderin’, the gentleman quoted in yesterday’s feature story was Claude Dickens, not Claude Dickenson as was repeatedly stated in the article. Dickens is well know by many and has served on various community boards and councils over the years. He is currently on the Board of Directors of CW&EP. We apologize for any lack of recognition caused by the article.

As we enter into this year’s budget process, the hope is that it will be a painless, efficient effort. City Administrator Tom Short thinks that should be the case and seems to have been workin’ toward that end.

With the "downsized" four member Budget Committee, things may move through a little quicker anyway.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

McCune Brooks Hospital

Health Notes

FOOD FOR THOUGHTFUL PEOPLE: The American Chemical Society cautions that "well-done" hamburger, which is supposed to be the safe way to avoid ingesting dangerous bacteria, may not be so safe after all. The problem is in the color of the cooked meat. Too many people assume that if the hamburger turns brown, it’s well done. As the ACS says, that’s not necessarily so.

Dr. Donald Kropf, professor of meat science at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan., says it’s true the internal color of cooked ground beef does turn from red to pink to tan as the temperature rises. However, Dr. Kropf and his colleagues have found that the well-done look in some ground meat can appear at much lower temperatures than are required to kill foodborne pathogenic microorganisms.

This can cause problems for people who assume the germs are dead, but may find out soon enough, the microorganisms are very much alive and capable of causing serious illnesses that can sometimes result in death.

To avoid eating undercooked meat that looks safe, Dr. Kropf suggests you rely not on the color of the meat, but on the juices that seep out during cooking. Look for the juice to turn from red to yellow as the temperature rises.

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