By Staff
During a period of belt-tightening and budgetary acrobatics such as the one Escambia County and all of Alabama are going through now, any large government expenditure has to be scrutinized carefully.
After all, when elected officials are asking taxpayers for more money to maintain an already shaky status quo, they'd darn well better be handling carefully what we've already given them. If not, taxpayers have no reason think they're doing anything but simply throwing good money after bad. In which case, it would be time to start looking for new elected officials.
That being said, the County Commission's recent purchase of a building to house non-violent offenders was a good one. The building, bought for $75,000, will house inmates working their way back to society through Drug Court and Community Corrections programs -- inmates who really shouldn't be sharing bunks with rapists and murderers if it can be helped. And it will free up space in the jail to house federal inmates, a practice the government pays Escambia County well for providing.
Those considerations make this a good long-term investment for the county, one acceptable even during times like these.