Since the citizens of Walla Walla don't have unlimited funds the city is going to have to decide just what they must have and what would be nice to have.

The city has made a habit of funding and supporting items that are nice but really aren't critical. With the poor economy and apparent "needs" expressed by both the Federal Government and State Government citizens are going to be taxed to death and will be ruluctant to spend money they don't have.

If the sewers and water system is critical then the city should concentrate on that. It seems foolish to get behind increasing taxes for things like Valley Transit when they could provide less service and raise the cost of riding and still provide all of the needed service. Those funds could have been used to improve the city infrastructure which is probably more important.

This leaves me wondering, once again, if there isn't a better way to address problems like this. What happened to the budget? Where did the money go that was supposed to be used for water, sewer, and roads, and why was everything let run down so bad before addressing the situation. Like the previous comments point out--it seems to be a matter of priority. When we are talking about contamination from sewage, it seems to me that it was let go, and the money got spent on less important items. Now, in the lowest economic conditions, it is the tax payer's responsibility to come to the rescue, and the government gets to just raise the budget--double the taxes. It seems that, no matter what, there isn't a government agency around that can live within a budget. But the citizens are supposed to live within theirs, and then additionally make up for the shortfall of the government. How long can the citizens in this community keep their houses and enjoy doing the things they like to do, if everyone who has their fingers in their pockets doubles their taxes every few years? We certainly don't get raises that allow us to keep up.