The Alpharetta City Council started discussing a simple grant application Monday night but ended up debating a bigger subject: the philosophy of taking federal stimulus money.
In the end, the council voted 5-2 to apply for a $276,702 federal grant that would equip a civilian crime scene technician and pay his or her salary for two years. The city doesn’t have a crime scene technician of its own.
Council members John Monson and David Belle Isle voted no, saying they support the police all the way but not President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan.
Belle Isle said the stimulus package was a bad financial idea, akin to using a credit card to invest in the stock market, that will hurt the country in the long run. If the city accepts stimulus money, Belle Isle said, it would be like a thief caught red-handed saying, “If I didn’t take it, somebody else would.”
Belle Isle also said future generations will really be the ones paying for stimulus projects, including the crime scene technician.
Council member Douglas DeRito said he considered those arguments but decided the city needed to get something out of the stimulus package.
“Our children and grandchildren and we are going to pay this debt,” he said. “It’s going to happen whether we pass this or not. People in Washington have decided that for us.”
Monson complained the city will have to start paying for the crime scene technician when the grant runs out.
“This is no longer stimulative,” Monson said. “The net creation of a job is zero.”
But Council member D.C. Aiken noted the police department asked the council to apply for the grant.
“That tells me it’s a gotta-have,” Aiken said, “not a wanna-have.”
If the city receives the grant, it would pay two years of salary and buy about $88,000 in equipment, including a crime scene van. City Public Safety Director Gary D. George said the city often has to wait months to have evidence processed because it’s sent to the GBI lab, which has a backlog.
Labels: Alpharetta, City Council, stimulus money
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Brian Vanderhoff @ 10:06 AM
