A good example of how governmental officials seem to think they are forced to spend every dime available was reported by Jim Butts in the Northwest Herald Thursday.

He wrote about where the last of the $4.3 million raised through the Downtown Crystal Lake Tax Increment Financing district would be spent.

$846,000 in this 23rd year and mercifully last year of the TIF district.

Such high priority projects the city council approved.

The Crystal Lake City Council agreed to put electric, telephone and cable lines underground on East Crystal Lake Avenue.

Boy, that would rank right up there with changing all the street signs in Crystal Lake.

Here’s the sentence in Butts’ story which epitomizes the “must spend” attitude:

“The majority of the council felt since the money was generated specifically by the TIF from downtown tax dollars, the cost for the improvements was justified.”

Spending the money from the TIF district will just force all the other tax districts to raise their collective levies by that amount.

Hey. It doesn’t matter.

It’s free money.

More of it is going to trash cans and benches, replacing streetlights and tree gates. (In case they want to escape?)

Ralph Dawson joined Jeff Thorsen in voting against the expenditures. Cathy Ferguson wasn’t present at the meeting.