So, I'll ask the same question I posed last week: if the Fire Department doesn't need the money for this new proposed fee, why is it being proposed at all?

The town is looking to impose a new $5 fee on top of the Fire Department’s existing building inspection charge, and the various groups are squabbling over what to do with it — it’s not going to the Department itself, either way. So, stick it in the general fund, pay for some new low-income housing, or buy tricycles with streamers for commuters? All ideas have their constituencies and advocates.

It’s a small amount of money, even insignificant in dollar terms, but the proposal is also typical of how politicians approach seizing the money of individuals: “We’ll grab it now, and figure out what to do with it later”.

Boo.