The possible dead end that the City of Monroe ran into this week on the long-awaited project on Eighth and Ninth Street has been a couple of years in the making. It's an unfortunate but predictable turn, given the city's financial situation.
More than two years ago, the city solidified plans to widen Eighth and Ninth Street to handle a projected traffic increase during the next 20 to 30 years and provide a safer driving environment. The project would widen Eighth and Ninth Street from Wisconsin 69 east to 20th Avenue.
Paperwork and processes have dragged the project out since then, to the point that it now has become too expensive to continue pursuing at full scale. The cost of the project now is $3.5 million. After federal and state grants, the city's portion of the bill would be $2.6 million.
"We can't afford this project," Mayor Ron Marsh told the Monroe Board of Public Works on Monday.
That's become painfully obvious as the City Council struggled to make cuts to bring the fiscal year 2009 budget, approved Tuesday, in line with the state-mandated cap on revenue increases. Aldermen ultimately decided they couldn't afford to have a city administrator in 2009, or fund $100,000 worth of sidewalk improvements, among myriad rough cuts.
In that environment, there is no chance to fund a multi-million-dollar street project, as beneficial as it may be to the community. The city may not even be able to fund a scaled-back project on Eighth and Ninth Street, which the Board of Public Works on Monday asked department heads to investigate. Whether a lesser project even will be viable will depend on the cost.
"After all the time we spent on the budget, cutting two-thousand here and three-thousand there," Alderman Mark Coplien expressed skepticism Monday about the city's ability to afford any substantial work on the street.
Improvements like street reconstruction and sidewalk repairs and installations increase the quality of life in communities like Monroe. But like taxpayers, municipalities nationwide are feeling the budget pinch. With the nation in economic recession, possibly headed for a depression, the financial outlook isn't good for Monroe and other municipalities.
Which is why talk of a second economic stimulus plan being introduced in the first days of the Obama administration in Washington should be followed closely. The president-elect has said a major component of the stimulus must provide an infusion of dollars for infrastructure projects at the federal, state and local level.
Frankly, such a federal expenditure would have been more wise than how money was spent in the first economic stimulus plan last spring - sending checks to American taxpayers. That stimulus had little or no impact on the economy, as most people simply put the check into savings or paid off debts.
Spending on infrastructure employs American workers and improves the quality of life in communities across the country. It can help communities like Monroe complete projects they simply no longer can afford.
Whether there will be any money left for such expenditures after banks, insurers and auto companies are bailed out remains to be seen, but an economic stimulus of infrastructure projects should receive strong consideration.
More than two years ago, the city solidified plans to widen Eighth and Ninth Street to handle a projected traffic increase during the next 20 to 30 years and provide a safer driving environment. The project would widen Eighth and Ninth Street from Wisconsin 69 east to 20th Avenue.
Paperwork and processes have dragged the project out since then, to the point that it now has become too expensive to continue pursuing at full scale. The cost of the project now is $3.5 million. After federal and state grants, the city's portion of the bill would be $2.6 million.
"We can't afford this project," Mayor Ron Marsh told the Monroe Board of Public Works on Monday.
That's become painfully obvious as the City Council struggled to make cuts to bring the fiscal year 2009 budget, approved Tuesday, in line with the state-mandated cap on revenue increases. Aldermen ultimately decided they couldn't afford to have a city administrator in 2009, or fund $100,000 worth of sidewalk improvements, among myriad rough cuts.
In that environment, there is no chance to fund a multi-million-dollar street project, as beneficial as it may be to the community. The city may not even be able to fund a scaled-back project on Eighth and Ninth Street, which the Board of Public Works on Monday asked department heads to investigate. Whether a lesser project even will be viable will depend on the cost.
"After all the time we spent on the budget, cutting two-thousand here and three-thousand there," Alderman Mark Coplien expressed skepticism Monday about the city's ability to afford any substantial work on the street.
Improvements like street reconstruction and sidewalk repairs and installations increase the quality of life in communities like Monroe. But like taxpayers, municipalities nationwide are feeling the budget pinch. With the nation in economic recession, possibly headed for a depression, the financial outlook isn't good for Monroe and other municipalities.
Which is why talk of a second economic stimulus plan being introduced in the first days of the Obama administration in Washington should be followed closely. The president-elect has said a major component of the stimulus must provide an infusion of dollars for infrastructure projects at the federal, state and local level.
Frankly, such a federal expenditure would have been more wise than how money was spent in the first economic stimulus plan last spring - sending checks to American taxpayers. That stimulus had little or no impact on the economy, as most people simply put the check into savings or paid off debts.
Spending on infrastructure employs American workers and improves the quality of life in communities across the country. It can help communities like Monroe complete projects they simply no longer can afford.
Whether there will be any money left for such expenditures after banks, insurers and auto companies are bailed out remains to be seen, but an economic stimulus of infrastructure projects should receive strong consideration.
