The Carroll County Planning Commission is facing the same unpleasant task it faces every year: choosing which capital improvements to include in the next year's budget.
As long as Carroll County continues to follow the self-imposed austerity program that limits money available for construction of public infrastructure, the planning commission will be forced to just say "no" to deserving public construction projects.
Carroll is no longer a rural county with a static population. The populace is growing at a steady rate, creating a need for more schools, libraries, senior centers and recreation centers.
If Carroll's tight-fisted approach to capital improvement budgets continues much longer, the county will find itself in even more dire straits. Children could end up attending school in shifts. There might not be enough baseball fields to accommodate the Little League. Senior citizens won't have facilities where they can share a meal or participate in recreation programs.
With a tax rate that is the metropolitan area's lowest at $2.35 for every $100 of assessed property, Carroll has been unable to generate sufficientrevenue to finance even the proposed bare-bones capital improvements budget, or finance a pay-as-you capital program or provide leverage to allow the county to increase the amount of debt it issues.
Due to this fiscal straitjacket, planning commissioners are making poor choices. One can argue whether the county has an obligation to pay for a state-of-art cat kennel at the Humane Society, for example. But spending priorities seem askew when recreation and senior centers become viewed as unnecessary public extravagances.
If adequate funding were available, newly appointed planning commission member Robin Frazier would not be dismissing the need for public parks Marie Antoinette-style: "If people want to recreate, join a spa." Given the continuing budget restraints, even parks -- long accepted as essential public amenities -- have become candidates for privatization.
A jurisdiction lacking in recreation facilities, sufficient classrooms, good roads and quality libraries won't have to worry about growth for long. Starving the capital improvements budget guarantees a bleak future for the county.