Catching Up with Last Night’s Council Session

Common Council met last night, and continued her discussions toward a November 18th final vote on the proposed 2015 budget. 

I’ll write more about Whitewater’s budget on Monday. 

It’s best to keep this principle in mind: that one works diligently to overcome setbacks, but spends far less time reflecting on successes. 

So, just a bit about the bus —

It’s satisfying that, after years of contending at this website that Whitewater should not be funding a transit bus from Janesville, Council has deleted additional funding for 2015 from the proposed budget. Council made the right decision.

(I’m confident that most residents in town would agree that funding was unjustified, and likely would have said as much even last year.  Over the years, this city saw both members of local government and residents recommend against funding.) 

It’s fair that our focus should be on our own merchants, our own needs, and our own fiscal condition.   

These have been difficult years for local governments across Wisconsin.  Some are doing a bit better than we are, but many are doing much worse.  It’s sad but true that a few cities near us seem almost lost, resorting to closed meetings, flimsy claims, and insiders’ manipulations. 

There’s always room for improvement, but we have certainly done better than some neighboring communities, a condition that should offer us optimism. 

We can (and always should) hope for better still in 2015.