The City Council Budget/Ways and Means Committee made final adjustments Wednesday morning to the proposed City budget for fiscal year 2001/2002 which begins July 1.

The Committee reversed an earlier decision to recommend that the City reserves be reduced from twenty-five percent of the operating budget to twenty-two percent. Mayor Johnson had indicated he was not happy with the reduction.

The Mayor submitted several alternatives to bring the budget into balance. The Committee needed to reduce spending by approximately $175,000 in order to leave the reserve percentage at twenty-five.

The Committee voted to: reduce the amount allocated for Council contingency from $50,000 to $40,000; eliminate the proposed $100,000 set-aside for future improvements to Civil War Road; reduce the amount set aside for the proposed Fairview/Highway 71 interchange from $100,000 to $35,000.

Committee member Bill Putnam said this would save a political battle with the Mayor. The Council will have the document by their next regular meeting June 12.

Each budget year the subject of City policy naturally is brought up. How much is enough reserve? Do we want to encourage more industry or retail or in what ratios?

Are housing developments to be subsidized with street and infrastructure incentives or should some of that money be used to improve older parts of town?

Should we pay cash for things or lease purchase agreements so we can get more goin’ quicker. Should the fact that we can earn as much or sometimes a little more on interest than we pay be a factor in our overall plannin’?

Should the City be involved in competin’ with the private sector by operatin’ retail outlets and rentin’ office space? Should bids from businesses in the City get preference? Written policy helps.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Metcalf Auto Supply

Click & Clack
TALK CARS

by Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom and Ray:

Hey guys, I like your column. But I have a question about Tom’s suggestion of using "Reverse" gear in a manual transmission car for parking. I’ve heard that if you park your can and leave it in Reverse, you could run down your car’s battery because you are activating the "backup light switch" even though the car is turned off and the key is out. Is this true? And can this happen? - Eric

RAY: Eric, if I ever decided to open an ice-cube franchise at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, you’d be just the kind of customer I’d be looking for!

TOM: You’re right that when you put the car in Reverse, you do activate the backup light switch. And if you leave the car in Reverse, the switch remains in the "on" position. But once you turn off the ignition switch, the electricity stops flowing.

RAY: Power from the battery flows through the ignition switch to almost all of the car’s accessories. So when the ignition switch is off, the battery cannot be drained by those things.

TOM: There are a few notable exceptions: the parking lights, brake lights, headlights (on many cars) and the interior lights (like the dome light) are not affected by the ignition switch. But the backup lights, like the windshield wipers, air conditioner and engine’s ignition system itself, all cease to get power once the key is in the "off" position.

RAY: So leave your manual-transmission car in Reverse when you park. No harm will be done, and no battery power will be drained. And with very few exceptions, Reverse’s high gear ratio will do the best job of keeping the car from rolling should the hand brake unexpectedly fail.