It just enables the counties not to absorb the mid-year budget hit that they had not anticipated.

we experienced a very dry mid-winter last year, and that is something we never anticipated.

Last year the summer season started in late May when temperatures hit the mid-90s. So we've really got a late start to summer. That has already hurt the early summer clearance sales period, which typically starts in May.

This year we have not done a thorough enough job going through the budget to look for reductions. A 7 percent increase is too much for the increasingly stressed taxpayers in this town to handle. With less money, I believe that we would still be able to sustain the high quality schools that we have.

Our budget is about $5 million a year to advertise tourism nationwide. That's not much,

This is not part of their budget.