Dessert first?

There is an old saying that parents tell their children: no dessert unless you finish your dinner first. The People's Republic of Arlington should be reminded of this. According to this Washington Post article, the County Board is proposing a budget that increases taxes on energy, and throws money at solar-powered homes, an "aggressive outreach and marketing effort" on energy-saving (read: more useless junk mail coming to my mailbox), social services, and elementary foreign language classes. Interestingly enough, what's not in the budget proposal is a $3 million dollar storm water management project. The storm water project is necessary to repair a decaying infrastructure and meet federally required mandates. The County will figure out how to raise taxes to pay for that later.

The last time I checked, implementing government requirements and providing critical infrastructure is part of the basic operation of local government Useless junk mail, paying for other people to install solar powers on their roofs, and providing social services are extras. Arlington needs to pay for its dinner first, and then get dessert if there is any money left over.