Easy money era will come to an end

By NewsPress Now

Buchanan County’s legislative delegation should send a big “thank you” bouquet to the person who picked the morning of June 28 for a public affairs gathering to discuss the 2024 regular session in Jefferson City.

Lawmakers were able to walk into the Stoney Creek Hotel and talk up all the money they directed to different entities in St. Joseph: $300,000 for Missouri Western State University, $500,000 for the Children’s Discovery Center and $2.5 million to study the feasibility of converting the U.S. Highway 36 corridor into an interstate. About $10 million will help the 139th Airlift Wing with infrastructure improvements at Rosecrans Memorial Airport.

Later that day, Gov. Mike Parson vetoed all $2.5 million for the Highway 36 study and eliminated $2 million to relocate a fuel farm at Rosecrans, writing in his budget message that local taxpayers should be willing to shoulder more of the funding burden for fuel infrastructure. Parson also vetoed $750,000 in highway and capital improvements for what was only referred to as an “agriculture processing facility” in St. Joseph.

It was the second straight year that the governor vetoed the Highway 36 study, although the Discovery Center remained in the budget after its funding was struck last year.

Timing is everything. For local lawmakers, the legislative wrap-up session takes on a less upbeat tone if it’s held after the governor eliminates $1 billion in statewide spending.

Even for conservatives, legislative success tends to be defined by how much money is spent. It was easier to bring home the bacon when vast amounts of federal stimulus funds were flowing to state and local governments, but those days are coming to an end.

Along with the veto message, Parson’s office released budget documents emphasizing that 66% of the state’s $5.7 billion fund balance is already obligated for fiscal year 2025. At the same time, revenue growth is beginning to slow.

After a 14.6% increase in state revenue for fiscal year 2022, the rate slowed to 2.7% for 2023 and 1% this year. The projections for 2025 call for revenue growth of 0.2%. Meanwhile, stimulus money is starting to dry up.

All this means that difficult choices await future legislators. The audience might hear a more sobering message at next year’s legislative wrap-up session.

The smell of freedom

A week has passed since July 4. Has the smoke started to dissipate from all those neighborhood fireworks shows in St. Joseph?

Every year, St. Joseph residents celebrate Independence Day with abandon, which raises the question of why the city even bothers to have a local fireworks ban. Maybe the time has come to acknowledge that this local ordinance is widely ignored and rarely enforced. Therefore, why have it on the books? You can’t expect the police to round up every 13-year-old shooting off bottle rockets.

Another law that was widely ignored in recent years was the prohibition on marijuana, which was finally repealed in Missouri with the passage of Amendment 3.

The sky was supposed to fall in, but that really hasn’t happened. But one downside of legalization has been the pungent smell in some neighborhoods. When someone fires up on the back deck, the entire street smells like a dead skunk.

This is where fireworks come in. At least during the July 4 weekend, the smell of smoke bombs overwhelms the odor of cannabis. It was, for a few days, a welcome reprieve.