Troutdale Mayor Paul Thalhofer's proposal to provide an "incentive" of $800,000 to rescue a proposed Multnomah County Library location in downtown Troutdale would not be an appropriate use of city funds. In today's Oregonian article(Mayor floats incentive for library - OregonLive.com) Thalhofer admitted he's offering the money, "because they( the developers) don't have the funding for the rest of the project."
I have nothing against developers. I have nothing against a new Multnomah County Library in Troutdale, even though 59% of Troutdale voters rejected the 2006 Multnomah County library levy that authorized funding for a library in Troutdale. But it's not Christmas time in Troutdale. We're not Santa Claus. We're not the tooth fairy.
If there's one thing I've learned on the Troutdale City Council, it's that there are those who believe it's always easier to spend other people's money, especially when it's the city's taxpayers doing the spending. With all due respect to Mayor Thalhofer, if he wants to help fund the rest of the proposed library development, he should take his hands out of the pockets of Troutdale's taxpayers, get out his own personal check book, and write a personal check for $800,000.
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