Jolly or folly?

I like a good party as much as the next person, but whatever happened to asking for volunteers to provide entertainment instead of having government pay?

The three most recent Marion City Council packets contain payments totaling $2,577.37 for Holly Jolly Christmas.

Included were $715.29 to print flyers, $300 to pay five kids to play elves, $264.94 to reimburse the Historic Elgin Hotel for arranging photos with Santa, $500 for a petting zoo, $200 for recorded music on Main St., $72.14 for parade candy, and $525 for a billboard.

Granted, these are stocking stuffer amounts in the greater city budget, but they represent a fundamental shift away from when organizations putting on events raised their own money rather than expecting government to kick in.

It’s not just Marion Merchants Association that has turned what used to be volunteer events into government-sponsored activities.

Most major and minor events in the county, from the county fair and Chingawassa Days down to various community festivals, all find themselves lining up at county or city troughs for reimbursement.

And very often, money paid seems to go to friends and favorites of people organizing events.

Yes, it’s hard to get businesses and organizations to pay to sponsor things. Advertising to support our extremely popular Dear Santa section this week lags below normal. But does that mean government should come in and prop it up?

Nationwide, MAGA forces are targeting support for humanities, arts, public media, and other societal goods. Are they doing it because government shouldn’t pay for what private donations could support instead? Or are they doing it because they disagree with policies of these groups and want to punish them for expressing viewpoints contrary to their own?

Only a slight amount of ideological favoritism seems to go into government support for local community parties, but do they actually benefit all of the community or just a small handful of organizers who control the events?

I don’t have the answer to any of these questions, but wouldn’t it be nice if we as a community pondered them a bit and maybe considered adopting a policy about what we will and won’t spend tax money to buy and how much benefit needs to be shown before a decision is reached?

Otherwise, squeaky wheels will get more and more taxpayer grease with less and less oversight as to what it’s used for.

— ERIC MEYER