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. i I - C J'JJU-- I -- - 76th Year No. 223 Good Morning! It's Thursday, June 7, 1984 2 Sections 14 Pages 25 Cents 3 issues on ballot in August Lottery vote in November JEFFERSON CITY ( UPI) Gov. Christopher Bond Wednesday placed three proposed state constitutional amendments on the ballot for the Aug 7 primary election in order to avoid controversy surrounding other issues on the November ballot In doing so, the governor gained political advantage aimed at win-ning voters' approval of Amend-ments 2, 4 and 6, which involve eco-nomic development Avoided was the public controversy over ballot is-sues that is expected to occur in No-vember with the lottery proposal and a citizens' initiative petition to enact a state law banning the use of nuclear power plants in Missouri. Proposed amendments that will be voted on in August are : Amendment No. 2 to establish a one- tent- h cent state sales tax to pro-mote soil and water conservation projects and to support state parks. Amendment No 4 to allow Kan-sas City to issue bonds for municipal improvements within special devel-opment districts. Amendment No. 6 to create a Missouri Department of Economic Development The amendment was part of Bond's legislative package this year. " A new cabinet- leve- l department will strengthen the state's efforts to encourage new and expanding indus-try in Missouri and create jobs for our people," Bond said in a news re-lease issued by his office. " This department is vital to our ability to compete with other states to attract industry." Under Missouri law, state consti-tutional amendments are automat-ically placed on the November gen-eral election ballot unless the governor schedules a special elec-tion. To place Amendments 2, 4 and 6 on the primary ballot, Bond sched-uled a special election to be held at the same time as the Aug. 7 primary election. " By placing three of the ballot is-sues in August and leaving the other three in November, more focus can be placed on the pros and cons of each issue," Bond said. Proposed constitutional amend-ments that will be voted on at the Nov. 6 general election are : Amendment No. 1 allowing lo-cal governments to grant cost of liv-ing increases to all beneficiaries of their retirement systems. k Amendment No. 3 allowing the General Assembly to authorize the state, counties, cities and other polit-ical subdivisions to provide health insurance benefits for officers, em-ployees and their departments. Amendment No. 5 authorizing the operation of a state lottery. Additional controversy could re-sult from two other proposals that might appear on the November bal-lot. An initiative petition currently is being circulated to gather the signa-tures needed to require a statewide vote in November to legalize pan- mutu- el betting on horse racing. If the petition drive is successful, the proposition would be on the same ballot with the lottery, thus requir-ing voters to decide two disputed is-sues involving legalized gambling. Another initiative petition drive is under way to put on the November election ballot a proposal requiring the Missouri Public Service Com-mission to phase in electric rate in-creases. The proposal also would stipulate that ratepayers would not have to pay for a nuclear plant until the federal government has ap-proved a method to permanently dis-pose of high- lev- el radioactive nucle-ar waste The deadline for submitting the two inuative petitions is July 6. Bill Kennedy puts a piece of telephone pole into the CAT scanner. sh. o. v. nu Scanning quality of trees, poles pioneered by 2 UMC engineers By Ernie Gutierrez Mlssourian staff writer Someday soon, foresters and utili-ty company repair crews might be able to use a portable CAT ( compu-terized axial tomographic) scanner to examine the msides of trees and utility poles. At least that is the dream of two University researchers. One year af-ter receiving a CAT scanner as a gift from University Hospital, BUI Mill-er, associate professor of nuclear en-gineering, and Bill Kennedy, assist-ant professor of nuclear engineering and radiology, are ready to take their show on the road, so to speak. They are seeking funds to build a prototype of a portable scanner they believe could determine the condi-tion of wooden utility poles or the health and quality of trees. A CAT scanner consists of a radia-tion source, a set of detectors and a computer that controls the operation of the machine and processes its Sig-nals. The photons radiant energy such as X- ra- ys pass from the ra-diation source through the object into the detectors. Depending on the density of the object being exam-ined, more or fewer photons pass through the material and are de-tected, giving a computerized image of the object Some of the objects studied by Miller and Kennedy are wooden util ity poles The utility industry has es-timated that 2 million utility poles a year require replacement at an av-erage cost of $ 500 a pole. The meth-ods used to determine the soundness of a wooden pole range from tapping the pole with a hammer and listen-ing to the resulting sound, to shoot-ing a steel pin into the pole, to using ultrasound devices. Miller and Kennedy said that by using a fixed gamma- ra- y source, a detector and a microprocessor, a complete scan can be made in the field in a relatively short time and with accuracy. " The bulk of the hardware con-nected with a CAT scanner is used to generate the X- ray- s necessary to penetrate the material being stud-ied," Miller said. " In a portable unit, all that hardware would be re-placed by the radioactive source. " Because the need for accuracy in testing a utility pole is not as critical as when testing a human brain, Mil-ler said the researchers have an ad-vantage. " We can get by with less resolu-tion and that means that we can use less radiation and lighter compo-nents," he said. The possible uses of such non- destructi- ve tests are almost unlimited, according to Kennnedy. " We foresee the use of a portable unit to deter-mine the health or quality of stand-ing or cut amber, or the field testing of most any object, particularly if reflected rays are also used on larg-er objects." Kennedy also sees such a portable scanner, with the appropriate radia-tion source, used by industry to de-termine the internal state of solid materials such as electric motor parts, metal shafts and plastics. " Materials suspected of defects could be examined quickly and on-line without the need to disassemble the machinery," he said The researchers decided to use such a sophisticated apparatus for testing everyday objects after at-tempting to see what kind of image they could get from a piece of wood left behind by a graduate student " We were so pleased with the image we got that we contacted some researchers in the forestry de-partment and they suggested that the utility companies might be inter-ested in looking at a testing proce-dure that could be used on utility poles," Miller said Miller and Kennedy are optimistic about the ways m which a portable scanner can be used in the future. " Besides the many industrial uses contemplated, we believe that people with such diverse research interests as foresters and archaeologists could use a device light enough to be car-ried to field investigations," Miller said Farmland ready for negotiations on MIA merger ByC A Briceno Mlssourian staff writer After two days of deliberations, the board of directors of Farmland Industries of Kansas Citv, Mo, unanimously voted Wednesday to " direct management to prepare a definitive plan for reorganization or consolidation with MFA Inc " Iist Wednesday, the board of the financially troubled MFA met in Co-lumbia and voted 27-- 2 to begin merg-er talks with Farmland, the nation's largest supply and marketing coop-erative Now that Farmland's board has agreed to talk merger, negotiations on the terms will begin immediately Although no specific timetable has been established. Farmland's 22- mem- ber board has called for man-agement ' to begin negotiations at once with the objective of reporting to the board as soon as possible," according to Bill Matteson, Farm-land's vice president of communica-tions The goal of the plan, Matteson said, is for ' better utilization of as-sets, employees and other resources of the organization and to make ef-fective furnishings of supplies and services to members and marketing our members farm products " MFA employs more than 300 per-sons in Columbia and more than 1,- 6- 00 in Missouri Many of them are expected to lose their jobs once the merger is finalized Matteson said Farmland's man-agement will conduct a thorough stu-dy that " will deal with all aspects on how both cooperatives will fit togeth-er." In the event of a " reorganization" in which MFA agrees to settle liabili-ties for less than their book value, more than 16,000 Missouri farm fam-ilies who own $ 60 million in MFA bonds almost certainly will suffer losses. Asked whether Farmland will pay full value on liabilities, Matteson said: " I can't comment on that at this tune. It's too early to tell what willhappea" The reorganization is being fol-lowed closely by thousands of farm-ers who have a financial, as well as an emotional, stake in the future of MFA. At least one Missouri farmer is not worried " I don't have any fear that I will lose anything," said Everett C. Bil-lings, a livestock and gram farmer and MFA member from Green Ridge, a wink- of- a- to- wn near Seda- li- a. Billings owns MFA bonds " I'm trusting my directors and my elected delegates to make the right decisions. I place accountability on my directors. But I think they will come through," Billings added Donald Street, assistant to the ad-ministrator of the U S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative Service in Washington, D C , said in a phone interview Wednesdav that ov en-tiling is negotiable - empimits value of assets Everything is fair game " Still, Street said I would Ik sur-prised if thev could negotoatt or net a discount on the debt ' Regarding MFA's bonds he said ' They ( MFA) have commitments for the face value of the bonds Thev have fixed obligations to their cred-itors I would be very surprised if they write them ( the obligations) down " Street added. " I'm not sure, but the only time liabilities can be re-duced or not taken on face value is if the cooperative files for bankrupt-cy " In any event, if the Farmland- MF- A merger goes through without a hitch, it will be the largest in U S co-operative history MFA is the 14th largest supplv and marketing cooperative in the United States The resulting enbtv will rank among the top 65 industrial compa-nies in the country , according to For-tune 500 Iast year, Farmland had sales of $ 4 7 billion MFA's sales were $ 680 million, down from $ 1 billion in sales in 1980 Farmland serves more than 500,000 farmers in 19 states, scat-tered as far away as Texas, Colora-do, Indiana and Ixiuisiana MFA serves 70,000 farmers, most of whom reside in Missouri, but it also has members in Arkansas, Illi-nois, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ten-nessee and Kentucky In 1981, the co-operative served members through 84 local retail cooperatives and 115 company- owne- d retail outlets In 1982 and 1983, however, MFA closed or consolidated 37 retail ex-changes and 15 bulk fertilizer facili-ties The merger comes at a time when MFA is struggling through its worst year in recent history As of March 31, the cooperative had suffered a net loss of $ 12.7 million In 1982, MFA lost $ 15 7 Losses totaled $ 3 6 million last year. I. ast year's loss would have exceeded $ 10 million if MFA had not sold its soybean processing plantm Mexico, Mo In addition, and potentially more perilous, the cooperative had a neg-ative working capital of $ 8 6 million in March If the firm had finished its fiscal year ending June 30 with un-paid bills, any creditor could have taken the cooperative into bankrupt-cy court " The tune that happens, the only choice left is to file for protection un-der Chapter 11," said an insider fa-miliar with the merger negotiations The source also claims that MFA was " forced" by the St louis Bank for Cooperatives to seek a merger with Farmland Similarly, MFA's current liabili-ties, those due within a year, exceed $ 150 million Current assets amount to approxi-mately $ 142 million Concoction Homemade fertilizer sweetened pot TALLAHASSEE, Fla ( UPI) -- A man arrested for growing 192 marijuana plants in his back yard garden told police he only was testing an experimental fertilizer and had not planned to smoke the stuff. Charles C. Brown, 36, was growing the marijuana plants among tomato and okra plants behind his house in a residential area, police said Brown told officers he was ex-perimenting with a homemade fertilizer made of fish heads, fish guts, blood and rainwater Police said they found a covered barrel containing the mixture Brown also said he was going to give the marijuana to friends when it matured It appeared Brown tried to dis-guise the marijuana by planting it close to tomato plants, which have similar leaves, police said More marijuana was growing alongside okra plants under an oak tree Burlap bags were hung on the fence to shield the garden, police said, but the marijuana plants were tall enough to be spotted from ( he street Police said the marijuana was worth a bout $ 200,000 ByStsveVlssar Mlssourian staff writer Columbia has a problem: more capital im-provement projects in the works than it has dollars to spend. ' To balance the preliminary budget for ' 1985, the city postponed 17 capital im-provement projects until 1S86 and 1987. Pro-jected costs for the projects have risen about $ 800 000 " There isn't a crisis," First Ward Coun-- cilman Al Tacker says. " There simply isn't i t -- i enough money this year. These projects can be paid for in the future when the money is available." City Finance Director Harold Boldt does not think there is a crisis either. " You can afford them if the people are willing to pay for them," Boldt says in refer-ence to postponed street projects. But he does believe deferring projects has serious drawbacks because balancing the budget in that manner " represents a false sense of security." " You feel good because it's balanced but you've got to look over your shoulder" he says, " and that is what I want to emphasize to the council." Boldt says postponing projects will not make the money magically appear; the city will face the same problems next year " If the money was available, we wouldr't have to defer projects in the first place," Boldt says. Sooner or later the council will have to come to grips with the shortage and make some difficult decisions, Boldt says " The council can do two things: delete the projects, which is often difficult politically once citizens have approved them, or they can use bond financing," Boldt says Political obstacles are one reason Tacker does not support a new general bond for pub-lic works at this tune. " A bond has to be tied to a source of reve-nue to pay for it, and that means a tax in- crease," he says Tacker says he prefers to promote pro-jects like the new senior citizens' center and the development of the storm sewer system, before going to the voters for more money for streets. Boldt says deferring costs means higher prices for projects because of Inflation and increased construction costs. Meanwhile, he adds, city funds from the 1982 general bond for road improvements are being spent faster than anticipated be-- Sea UNEXPECTED, Page 8A . (
Object Description
Title | Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1984-06-07 |
Description | Vol. 76th Year, No. 223 |
Subject |
Columbia (Mo.) -- Newspapers Boone County (Mo.) -- Newspapers |
Coverage | United States -- Missouri -- Boone County -- Columbia |
Language | English |
Date.Search | 1984-06-07 |
Type | Newspaper |
Format | |
Collection Name | Columbia Missourian Newspaper Collection |
Publisher.Digital | The Office of Library Systems of the University of Missouri |
Contributing Institution |
State Historical Society of Missouri University of Missouri School of Journalism |
Copy Request | Contact the State Historical Society of Missouri at: (800) 747-6366 or (573) 882-7083 or email contact@shsmo.org. Some fees apply:http://shsmo.org/research/researchfees |
Description
Title | Full Page |
Date.Search | 1984-06-07 |
Type | page |
Item.Transcript | . i I - C J'JJU-- I -- - 76th Year No. 223 Good Morning! It's Thursday, June 7, 1984 2 Sections 14 Pages 25 Cents 3 issues on ballot in August Lottery vote in November JEFFERSON CITY ( UPI) Gov. Christopher Bond Wednesday placed three proposed state constitutional amendments on the ballot for the Aug 7 primary election in order to avoid controversy surrounding other issues on the November ballot In doing so, the governor gained political advantage aimed at win-ning voters' approval of Amend-ments 2, 4 and 6, which involve eco-nomic development Avoided was the public controversy over ballot is-sues that is expected to occur in No-vember with the lottery proposal and a citizens' initiative petition to enact a state law banning the use of nuclear power plants in Missouri. Proposed amendments that will be voted on in August are : Amendment No. 2 to establish a one- tent- h cent state sales tax to pro-mote soil and water conservation projects and to support state parks. Amendment No 4 to allow Kan-sas City to issue bonds for municipal improvements within special devel-opment districts. Amendment No. 6 to create a Missouri Department of Economic Development The amendment was part of Bond's legislative package this year. " A new cabinet- leve- l department will strengthen the state's efforts to encourage new and expanding indus-try in Missouri and create jobs for our people," Bond said in a news re-lease issued by his office. " This department is vital to our ability to compete with other states to attract industry." Under Missouri law, state consti-tutional amendments are automat-ically placed on the November gen-eral election ballot unless the governor schedules a special elec-tion. To place Amendments 2, 4 and 6 on the primary ballot, Bond sched-uled a special election to be held at the same time as the Aug. 7 primary election. " By placing three of the ballot is-sues in August and leaving the other three in November, more focus can be placed on the pros and cons of each issue," Bond said. Proposed constitutional amend-ments that will be voted on at the Nov. 6 general election are : Amendment No. 1 allowing lo-cal governments to grant cost of liv-ing increases to all beneficiaries of their retirement systems. k Amendment No. 3 allowing the General Assembly to authorize the state, counties, cities and other polit-ical subdivisions to provide health insurance benefits for officers, em-ployees and their departments. Amendment No. 5 authorizing the operation of a state lottery. Additional controversy could re-sult from two other proposals that might appear on the November bal-lot. An initiative petition currently is being circulated to gather the signa-tures needed to require a statewide vote in November to legalize pan- mutu- el betting on horse racing. If the petition drive is successful, the proposition would be on the same ballot with the lottery, thus requir-ing voters to decide two disputed is-sues involving legalized gambling. Another initiative petition drive is under way to put on the November election ballot a proposal requiring the Missouri Public Service Com-mission to phase in electric rate in-creases. The proposal also would stipulate that ratepayers would not have to pay for a nuclear plant until the federal government has ap-proved a method to permanently dis-pose of high- lev- el radioactive nucle-ar waste The deadline for submitting the two inuative petitions is July 6. Bill Kennedy puts a piece of telephone pole into the CAT scanner. sh. o. v. nu Scanning quality of trees, poles pioneered by 2 UMC engineers By Ernie Gutierrez Mlssourian staff writer Someday soon, foresters and utili-ty company repair crews might be able to use a portable CAT ( compu-terized axial tomographic) scanner to examine the msides of trees and utility poles. At least that is the dream of two University researchers. One year af-ter receiving a CAT scanner as a gift from University Hospital, BUI Mill-er, associate professor of nuclear en-gineering, and Bill Kennedy, assist-ant professor of nuclear engineering and radiology, are ready to take their show on the road, so to speak. They are seeking funds to build a prototype of a portable scanner they believe could determine the condi-tion of wooden utility poles or the health and quality of trees. A CAT scanner consists of a radia-tion source, a set of detectors and a computer that controls the operation of the machine and processes its Sig-nals. The photons radiant energy such as X- ra- ys pass from the ra-diation source through the object into the detectors. Depending on the density of the object being exam-ined, more or fewer photons pass through the material and are de-tected, giving a computerized image of the object Some of the objects studied by Miller and Kennedy are wooden util ity poles The utility industry has es-timated that 2 million utility poles a year require replacement at an av-erage cost of $ 500 a pole. The meth-ods used to determine the soundness of a wooden pole range from tapping the pole with a hammer and listen-ing to the resulting sound, to shoot-ing a steel pin into the pole, to using ultrasound devices. Miller and Kennedy said that by using a fixed gamma- ra- y source, a detector and a microprocessor, a complete scan can be made in the field in a relatively short time and with accuracy. " The bulk of the hardware con-nected with a CAT scanner is used to generate the X- ray- s necessary to penetrate the material being stud-ied," Miller said. " In a portable unit, all that hardware would be re-placed by the radioactive source. " Because the need for accuracy in testing a utility pole is not as critical as when testing a human brain, Mil-ler said the researchers have an ad-vantage. " We can get by with less resolu-tion and that means that we can use less radiation and lighter compo-nents," he said. The possible uses of such non- destructi- ve tests are almost unlimited, according to Kennnedy. " We foresee the use of a portable unit to deter-mine the health or quality of stand-ing or cut amber, or the field testing of most any object, particularly if reflected rays are also used on larg-er objects." Kennedy also sees such a portable scanner, with the appropriate radia-tion source, used by industry to de-termine the internal state of solid materials such as electric motor parts, metal shafts and plastics. " Materials suspected of defects could be examined quickly and on-line without the need to disassemble the machinery," he said The researchers decided to use such a sophisticated apparatus for testing everyday objects after at-tempting to see what kind of image they could get from a piece of wood left behind by a graduate student " We were so pleased with the image we got that we contacted some researchers in the forestry de-partment and they suggested that the utility companies might be inter-ested in looking at a testing proce-dure that could be used on utility poles," Miller said Miller and Kennedy are optimistic about the ways m which a portable scanner can be used in the future. " Besides the many industrial uses contemplated, we believe that people with such diverse research interests as foresters and archaeologists could use a device light enough to be car-ried to field investigations," Miller said Farmland ready for negotiations on MIA merger ByC A Briceno Mlssourian staff writer After two days of deliberations, the board of directors of Farmland Industries of Kansas Citv, Mo, unanimously voted Wednesday to " direct management to prepare a definitive plan for reorganization or consolidation with MFA Inc " Iist Wednesday, the board of the financially troubled MFA met in Co-lumbia and voted 27-- 2 to begin merg-er talks with Farmland, the nation's largest supply and marketing coop-erative Now that Farmland's board has agreed to talk merger, negotiations on the terms will begin immediately Although no specific timetable has been established. Farmland's 22- mem- ber board has called for man-agement ' to begin negotiations at once with the objective of reporting to the board as soon as possible," according to Bill Matteson, Farm-land's vice president of communica-tions The goal of the plan, Matteson said, is for ' better utilization of as-sets, employees and other resources of the organization and to make ef-fective furnishings of supplies and services to members and marketing our members farm products " MFA employs more than 300 per-sons in Columbia and more than 1,- 6- 00 in Missouri Many of them are expected to lose their jobs once the merger is finalized Matteson said Farmland's man-agement will conduct a thorough stu-dy that " will deal with all aspects on how both cooperatives will fit togeth-er." In the event of a " reorganization" in which MFA agrees to settle liabili-ties for less than their book value, more than 16,000 Missouri farm fam-ilies who own $ 60 million in MFA bonds almost certainly will suffer losses. Asked whether Farmland will pay full value on liabilities, Matteson said: " I can't comment on that at this tune. It's too early to tell what willhappea" The reorganization is being fol-lowed closely by thousands of farm-ers who have a financial, as well as an emotional, stake in the future of MFA. At least one Missouri farmer is not worried " I don't have any fear that I will lose anything," said Everett C. Bil-lings, a livestock and gram farmer and MFA member from Green Ridge, a wink- of- a- to- wn near Seda- li- a. Billings owns MFA bonds " I'm trusting my directors and my elected delegates to make the right decisions. I place accountability on my directors. But I think they will come through," Billings added Donald Street, assistant to the ad-ministrator of the U S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative Service in Washington, D C , said in a phone interview Wednesdav that ov en-tiling is negotiable - empimits value of assets Everything is fair game " Still, Street said I would Ik sur-prised if thev could negotoatt or net a discount on the debt ' Regarding MFA's bonds he said ' They ( MFA) have commitments for the face value of the bonds Thev have fixed obligations to their cred-itors I would be very surprised if they write them ( the obligations) down " Street added. " I'm not sure, but the only time liabilities can be re-duced or not taken on face value is if the cooperative files for bankrupt-cy " In any event, if the Farmland- MF- A merger goes through without a hitch, it will be the largest in U S co-operative history MFA is the 14th largest supplv and marketing cooperative in the United States The resulting enbtv will rank among the top 65 industrial compa-nies in the country , according to For-tune 500 Iast year, Farmland had sales of $ 4 7 billion MFA's sales were $ 680 million, down from $ 1 billion in sales in 1980 Farmland serves more than 500,000 farmers in 19 states, scat-tered as far away as Texas, Colora-do, Indiana and Ixiuisiana MFA serves 70,000 farmers, most of whom reside in Missouri, but it also has members in Arkansas, Illi-nois, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ten-nessee and Kentucky In 1981, the co-operative served members through 84 local retail cooperatives and 115 company- owne- d retail outlets In 1982 and 1983, however, MFA closed or consolidated 37 retail ex-changes and 15 bulk fertilizer facili-ties The merger comes at a time when MFA is struggling through its worst year in recent history As of March 31, the cooperative had suffered a net loss of $ 12.7 million In 1982, MFA lost $ 15 7 Losses totaled $ 3 6 million last year. I. ast year's loss would have exceeded $ 10 million if MFA had not sold its soybean processing plantm Mexico, Mo In addition, and potentially more perilous, the cooperative had a neg-ative working capital of $ 8 6 million in March If the firm had finished its fiscal year ending June 30 with un-paid bills, any creditor could have taken the cooperative into bankrupt-cy court " The tune that happens, the only choice left is to file for protection un-der Chapter 11," said an insider fa-miliar with the merger negotiations The source also claims that MFA was " forced" by the St louis Bank for Cooperatives to seek a merger with Farmland Similarly, MFA's current liabili-ties, those due within a year, exceed $ 150 million Current assets amount to approxi-mately $ 142 million Concoction Homemade fertilizer sweetened pot TALLAHASSEE, Fla ( UPI) -- A man arrested for growing 192 marijuana plants in his back yard garden told police he only was testing an experimental fertilizer and had not planned to smoke the stuff. Charles C. Brown, 36, was growing the marijuana plants among tomato and okra plants behind his house in a residential area, police said Brown told officers he was ex-perimenting with a homemade fertilizer made of fish heads, fish guts, blood and rainwater Police said they found a covered barrel containing the mixture Brown also said he was going to give the marijuana to friends when it matured It appeared Brown tried to dis-guise the marijuana by planting it close to tomato plants, which have similar leaves, police said More marijuana was growing alongside okra plants under an oak tree Burlap bags were hung on the fence to shield the garden, police said, but the marijuana plants were tall enough to be spotted from ( he street Police said the marijuana was worth a bout $ 200,000 ByStsveVlssar Mlssourian staff writer Columbia has a problem: more capital im-provement projects in the works than it has dollars to spend. ' To balance the preliminary budget for ' 1985, the city postponed 17 capital im-provement projects until 1S86 and 1987. Pro-jected costs for the projects have risen about $ 800 000 " There isn't a crisis," First Ward Coun-- cilman Al Tacker says. " There simply isn't i t -- i enough money this year. These projects can be paid for in the future when the money is available." City Finance Director Harold Boldt does not think there is a crisis either. " You can afford them if the people are willing to pay for them," Boldt says in refer-ence to postponed street projects. But he does believe deferring projects has serious drawbacks because balancing the budget in that manner " represents a false sense of security." " You feel good because it's balanced but you've got to look over your shoulder" he says, " and that is what I want to emphasize to the council." Boldt says postponing projects will not make the money magically appear; the city will face the same problems next year " If the money was available, we wouldr't have to defer projects in the first place," Boldt says. Sooner or later the council will have to come to grips with the shortage and make some difficult decisions, Boldt says " The council can do two things: delete the projects, which is often difficult politically once citizens have approved them, or they can use bond financing," Boldt says Political obstacles are one reason Tacker does not support a new general bond for pub-lic works at this tune. " A bond has to be tied to a source of reve-nue to pay for it, and that means a tax in- crease," he says Tacker says he prefers to promote pro-jects like the new senior citizens' center and the development of the storm sewer system, before going to the voters for more money for streets. Boldt says deferring costs means higher prices for projects because of Inflation and increased construction costs. Meanwhile, he adds, city funds from the 1982 general bond for road improvements are being spent faster than anticipated be-- Sea UNEXPECTED, Page 8A . ( |