Green County government leaders are wise to not count on the state's money to pay for the Clean Sweep program until it's actually in county coffers. With state money, never count the chickens before they are hatched.
But it was encouraging last week when the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee decided to reinstate funding for the program - about three months after Gov. Jim Doyle had rescinded the state expenditure. It also was confirmation that the Green County Board of Supervisors did the right thing when it voted to go ahead with the program even when it expected no state grant in return.
When Doyle pulled the money from the program in February, Green County initially canceled its Clean Sweep for 2009. The program allows home owners and businesses to dispose of hazardous materials such as oven cleaners, herbicides, insecticides and antifreeze.
But county department heads found money in their budgets that could be diverted to keep the Clean Sweep program going, and the County Board voted to have the program anyway. On May 15-16, more than 11,000 pounds of hazardous material from homes, garages, schools, farm buildings and businesses were collected.
The county ended up spending about $25,000 on the program.
Now, County Board Chairman Art Carter says, the county is expecting to receive about $20,000 from the state for Clean Sweep. But it's not counting on it.
"I'm not taking much as fact," Carter said. "We won't know anything until the budget is done."
Of course, the fact that funding is back in the budget now is a reasonably good indicator that it still will be there when negotiations are finished. For better or worse, the Democrats control the budget committee and both the Assembly and the Senate. And Democrats don't seem to be in a particular mood to shift from the party line on budget matters this session.
It would be nice to think that the state will reimburse the county and its taxpayers for the expense of the valuable Clean Sweep program. But as with any matter in Madison these days, you just never know.
But it was encouraging last week when the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee decided to reinstate funding for the program - about three months after Gov. Jim Doyle had rescinded the state expenditure. It also was confirmation that the Green County Board of Supervisors did the right thing when it voted to go ahead with the program even when it expected no state grant in return.
When Doyle pulled the money from the program in February, Green County initially canceled its Clean Sweep for 2009. The program allows home owners and businesses to dispose of hazardous materials such as oven cleaners, herbicides, insecticides and antifreeze.
But county department heads found money in their budgets that could be diverted to keep the Clean Sweep program going, and the County Board voted to have the program anyway. On May 15-16, more than 11,000 pounds of hazardous material from homes, garages, schools, farm buildings and businesses were collected.
The county ended up spending about $25,000 on the program.
Now, County Board Chairman Art Carter says, the county is expecting to receive about $20,000 from the state for Clean Sweep. But it's not counting on it.
"I'm not taking much as fact," Carter said. "We won't know anything until the budget is done."
Of course, the fact that funding is back in the budget now is a reasonably good indicator that it still will be there when negotiations are finished. For better or worse, the Democrats control the budget committee and both the Assembly and the Senate. And Democrats don't seem to be in a particular mood to shift from the party line on budget matters this session.
It would be nice to think that the state will reimburse the county and its taxpayers for the expense of the valuable Clean Sweep program. But as with any matter in Madison these days, you just never know.
