13 MAY 05: WHERE DOES ALL THE MONEY GO?

"So do you like the new library?" asked the man behind the counter Thursday at the auto repair shop on Macon Road. I'd told him I was walking there, while his crew changed my oil. In fact, I tried to give his shop credit for building the library as a waiting room.

Yes, I told him, I do like the new library. But the man behind the counter apparently needed to talk to someone about it -- as if he simply can't wait until his next weekday off to call WRCG's "TalkLine."

"What gets me," the man said (paraphrasing his words a bit), "is that they spent all the city money on that library, and now they can't afford to pay for police." Well, the Columbus Public Library COULD serve as a form of crime prevention -- by getting young people so addicted to the Internet that they don't rob stores.

At this point, I admittedly became confused. I thought the one-cent sales tax which built the library was a school district tax, but an online check Thursday night confirmed I was wrong. There's so much tax talk in Columbus that it's easy to become LOST - which is the tax voters turned down last year.

But a check of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce web site reminded me of the problem with this man's comment. The 1999 one-cent sales tax was set aside to build the library, along with other projects. Police projects were NOT on the list, while six fire stations were -- and I certainly don't hear firefighters whining about THEIR pay.

Should money from the one-cent sales tax be moved to police pay? I'm not sure that's allowed under the tax rules. Besides, people who want their promised pet projects will accuse city officials of lying to them -- as if they don't expect politicians to do this....

Al Fleming brought up some of those promised projects in his WLTZ commentary Thursday. "Where's our new marina?" he asked -- not to mention a trolley line from downtown to Peachtree Mall. At least sales tax money is building roads for the other 95 percent of us.

But back to the man behind the auto repair shop counter, who wasn't finished venting yet. "And now they're talking about new buses for the schools...." This shop is in a position to watch dozens of school buses roll by every afternoon -- and maybe he dreams of fixing the old ones, for a bigger paycheck.

"They've been talking about adjusting schedules," the man admitted -- but a special task force assigned by Muscogee County schools found earlier or later class times didn't thrill many parents. Don't you wonder how many of those parents don't object to shopping at 5:00 a.m. on the morning after Thanksgiving?

The bottom line for the man behind the counter seemed to be that too many money was spent on the Columbus Public Library. Some of us who actually walk across the street to use it have a different perspective. We see large brownies on sale in the café for $2.30 and think too much still IS being spent.

E-MAIL UPDATE: Are you sitting down for this? At last we may have found something "IsOurCitySafe" actually likes!

Archie Rainey for Mayor? I think he could kick Bob's butt in the next election if his idea works.

Archie Rainey is the chair of the Public Safety Advisory Committee - and his idea is to put a two-dollar "user fee" on electric bills to pay for police. [11 May] Someone should check IsOurCitySafe's house, to see if he runs everything on a gas-powered generator.

A check of the phone book shows Archie Rainey does live in Columbus. And police might like him, since he directs Columbus State University's "Georgia Law Enforcement Command College." Of course, lately it's been busy reminding law officers to issue commands first before opening fire....

The reaction to Archie Rainey's "user fee" proposal has been interesting. One of the regular "TalkLine" wonks is upset by it, saying the fee wouldn't be removed if a new one-cent sales tax is approved in 2007. But c'mon - grocery shoppers in north Phenix City know miracles like this CAN happen.

Now some other brief notes to wrap up the week:

+ Gas prices at some Columbus stations dropped below two dollars a gallon, for the first time in two months. Come on, tell us now - when do you plan the Memorial Day weekend price hike?

+ The NBC Nightly News previewed today's announcement of military base closings, by showing a national map with all the installations marked. There was NO dot for Fort Benning - so is it only a coincidence that Vice President Cheney is going to Auburn today, and not Infantry Hall?

+ Keep Columbus Beautiful presented its annual awards. One of them went to Georgia Power - which will be a shock to opponents of that proposed power plant at the Muscogee-Harris County line....

(It's only fitting that Georgia Power received an award from Keep Columbus Beautiful. Did you really expect them to leave live wires on the ground after Hurricane Ivan came through?)

+ The Columbus Boys' and Girls' Clubs marked the first anniversary of its Teen Center with a luau dinner. This was both fun and educational - as teenagers learned in Hawaiian luaus, a "lei" is not something you eat with a dip.

+ Columbus State University's softball team won its first two games in the NCAA playoffs. The second game was a 1-0 win over Kennesaw State - as yet another local team told Division I bound Kennesaw, "C-S-U later!"

+ The mayor of Blue Ridge, Georgia was arrested for gambling on cockfights - for the third time! [True/WTVM] Now this is a town which could use a minor league baseball team....

(Then again, maybe the Blue Ridge Mayor is trying to boost the town economy - not only by gambling on cockfights, but lobbying the Chick-Fil-A cows to sponsor them.)

+ Instant Message to the St. Francis Medical Center "Singing Nuns": You should take that song-and-dance routine I saw Thursday on the road. Maybe it would calm down some of those frisky priests....

BURKARD'S BEST BETS: 20-ounce sodas at Walgreens on Wynnton Road for 40 cents.... FREE wireless Internet at the Krystal on Victory Drive.... FREE "Frostys" at all Wendy's through Sunday, but use that spoon to stir for body parts first....

COMING NEXT WEEK: Why a total stranger started asking me about fraternities....

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