Budget DIY Landscaping Video Sparks Debate

On Tiktok, the Do it yourself home improvement movie is a genre unto itself. But, though some movies spark wild enthusiasm, others are achieved with bemusement. Just one the latest case in point is a viral video from user @Delancey.do-it-yourself, whose upload displaying a recent bit of price range landscaping garnered as much loathe as it did enjoy.

The movie, which was captioned “Price range Curb Attractiveness for $38.58. Following up is hanging patio lights on entrance walk. Observe for additional funds helpful DIYs!” has attracted more than 1.6 million sights and extra than 173,000 likes.

It begins with a clip of somebody spraying a patch of mulch with what appears to be like black paint, while @Delancey.diy claims: “Did you know you can dye your personal mulch? Keep on… so our house seemed like this when we acquired it this summer.”

A couple doing some landscaping.
Two people engage in some Do it yourself landscaping by planting a tree.
Aleksandr Golubev/Aleksandr Golubev/Getty

Through footage and @Delancey.diy’s voiceover, the movie demonstrates a dwelling surrounded by substantial bushes, which are subsequently slash down to apparent space in the entrance property. @Delancey.do-it-yourself then gathers all the old tired-looking purple shutters from the outside the house of the household and lays them down on a tarp.

“We experienced a clean up blank slate for a even though. But then this 7 days I was like let us do a spending budget curb attractiveness update,” @Delancey.diy suggests. “So I spray-painted the mauve shutters, and then I bought a delivery of absolutely free mulch, from chipdrop.com.”

Footage displays a dump truck unloading a big pile of mulch, which is then distribute to the spots wherever the bushes used to be. In a TikTok remark, @Delancey.diy defined that the organization she utilizes pair arborists who want to dump fresh wooden chips with men and women who could use them. The only issue was the colour of the mulch.

“When I spread it out, I was like nope. It appears to be like like sawdust,” @Delancey.diy claims. “So I located this mulch dye on Amazon and you just combine it up with drinking water and spray it with a pump sprayer. It really is the specific very same mulch dye that the factories use to colour the mulch that you obtain in baggage from home depot.”

Footage shows a time lapse of her shifting all-around the back garden spraying all the freshly laid beds. By the finish of the video clip, the home is searching much smarter with black shutters and wholesome-looking beds of mulch about the edge of the yard. @Delancey.diy goes on to take note that just just one container of the dye was more than enough to protect the total yard and the complete course of action price $38.58.

Lots of TikTokers were being delighted with the guidelines in the online video. @Nat simply wrote: “Good task!!” Furthermore, @RyanFinance commented: “I’m absolutely conserving this online video,” although @SidekickMom extra: “Which is really badass.”

It’s very little speculate that @Delancey.diy’s movies are locating these a big viewers. Through the pandemic, 81 p.c of home owners took up a Do it yourself project, according to a study done by Angi. Following inquiring 1,000 householders about their Do it yourself house improvements, researchers located that the one most significant inspiration to pursue a task was to “conserve funds,” which 62 p.c of respondents placed as their top rated rationale for performing some Diy.

The survey also found that landscaping was the most cost-effective form of Do-it-yourself undertaking for property owners, with 42 {6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} of respondents paying a lot less than $1,000 (in comparison, kitchen area and bathroom remodels ended up the priciest, with 31 {6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} shelling out additional than $5,000).

Not all customers, nevertheless, were solely onboard with @Delancey.diy’s video clip. For instance, @KayleighBoydston pointed out: “But what if it gets kicked all-around? Would not you be equipped to see the og coloration?”

Some others appeared to choose offense at the elimination of the initial bushes, with @8.8.18 crafting: “Those people boxwoods have been beautiful. You killed your control attractiveness.”

In reaction to @NinaA’s less aggressively toned query: “Why would you reduce the bushes?” @Delancey.diy responded: “Since they hadn’t been lower again in a long time and were being blocking the front wander.”

But this, evidently, was not a superior more than enough cause for some buyers. @lylah commented: “instantly no.” Though yet another consumer, @Hey, extra: “I never consider it appears to be superior, but probably with whatsoever other plans you have, it will arrive with each other.”

That said, for every single doubting comment, there was yet another that heaped praise on @Delancey.do-it-yourself. Consumer @Matthew wrote, “You are awesome!! Thank you so significantly,” whilst @user2277042326393 commented: “really wonderful and inexpensive killed it.”

Newsweek reached out to @Delancey.diy for comment.

Siloam Springs city board to hear budget amendment for pond guardrail and landscaping

Town directors will hear a spending budget amendment in the course of Tuesday’s assembly regarding the set up of a guardrail and landscaping together the Highway 412 gateway pond.

Throughout the Sept. 7 board assembly, city staff members gave an update with regards to the addition of a guardrail all over the gateway pond intersection of Hwy 412 and East Principal Avenue as properly as installing landscaping (Spicata Liriope), in accordance to a employees report geared up by Metropolis Engineer Justin Bland on Oct. 8.

If authorised, the guardrail will be put in by Time Striping Inc., Bland claimed in a comply with-up email. Installation would take place 4-8 weeks next acceptance of the budget amendment.

An raise of expenditure for the money outlay in the Basic Fund will arise if authorised in the total of $24,431, the report states.

The board reviewed the solutions personnel offered and made a decision on putting in 275 feet of Cor-ten guardrail on the Hwy 412 aspect of the pond, the report states.

This would get started about midway around the curve in the pond wall on the south side and increase to the northeast to a stage powering the shadow of the welcome signal, the report states. Landscaping would be set up among the guardrail and the major of the pond wall, the report states.

A resolution was accepted in April of this year by the city board to check with the Arkansas Division of Transportation (ArDOT) to location a guardrail at the retention pond in close proximity to the “Welcome to Siloam Springs” sign on U.S. Freeway 412.

The resolution is owing to two separate car or truck mishaps that resulted in cars crashing into the pond, as well as a mower crashing into the pond in Might, producing the injury of a town worker.

A vehicle crashed into the pond on Jan. 1, 2019, and was flipped upside down, main to the loss of life of 11-year-old Tyner Levi Hammett.

On March 18 of this 12 months a 2nd auto crashed into the retention pond and the driver was arrested in connection with driving while intoxicated and was not transported to the medical center, in accordance to the Siloam Springs Police Division.

A metropolis employee was wounded although mowing at the pond when their mower overturned into the pond on Might 3. The worker was critically injured and transported via ambulance to Northwest Regional Medical Çenter in Springdale.

The bid for the guardrail does not involve the auguring of the holes for the guardrail posts, the report states. This function will be carried out by the electric department with digger trucks, the report states.

Additionally staff is nevertheless performing on ideas for the bushes in entrance of the guardrail so that cost is not involved, the report states.

In the fascination of timing workers would like to convey that notion to the town board in the in close proximity to potential with an supplemental budget amendment as wanted, the report states.

Town administrators will also focus on and vote on the subsequent objects:

Consent agenda

• Workshop minutes for the Oct. 5 workshop.

• Frequent meeting minutes for the Oct. 5 conference.

• Resolution 53-21 about the participation in the settlement of an opioid circumstance with the Arkansas Municipal League’s Municipal Lawful Defense Software.

Ordinances

• Inserting Ordinance 21-20 regarding the holiday of an unnamed right-of-way for 613 East University Road on its second looking at.

• Positioning Ordinance 21-21 concerning rezoning 613 E. University St. from I-1 (Industrial) to R-3 (Household Two-Spouse and children) on its next studying.

Staff experiences

• Board 2021-2022 board objectives update.

• Chamber of Commerce 3rd quarter report.

• Main Street Siloam Springs third quarter report.

• Siloam Springs Heritage Museum 3rd quarter report.

• Administrator’s report.

• Government session/town administrator employment.

Angie Hranowsky Creates a Funky Second Home for an Art-Loving Family on a Budget

Not extended right after South Carolina-centered designer Angie Hranowsky transformed a beachfront household on Sullivan’s Island for a relatives of five, the homeowners approached her once additional. This time, they needed assistance respiratory everyday living into their next home, a 1950s brick bungalow located only 20 minutes from their key residence. “They made the decision to get a house downtown that they would stay in some of the time,” describes Hranowsky—a final decision fueled by the locale of their kids’ colleges.

But compared with their very last venture with each other, the designer had to do the job on a extra restrictive funds. “They failed to know how extended they were likely to be there—it was not like they have been heading to maintain it eternally,” Hranowsky says. So, the challenge became, “how do we make this dwelling seriously interesting and fun devoid of spending what we did on the most important dwelling?”

Hranowsky commenced with the partitions. Simply because the customers are art enthusiasts (“you will find art all over the place at their other home!”) with an affinity for shade and pattern, the designer had to flex her creativeness to keep the residence from on the lookout basic. “You’ve got acquired all these blank walls. I necessarily mean, it was just white,” Hranowsky suggests. “And we did not genuinely have the spending budget for artwork.”

Fairly than shell out money or settle for low-cost wall hangings, Hranowsky utilised a blend of splendidly playful wallpapers to consider the spot of common art across the 5-bed room house. In the primary residing space, Hranowsky selected a minty Cole & Son jungle palm paper to enhance the trove of out of doors light-weight that arrives in by way of a established of sliding glass doors. “We are living in this tropical ecosystem and this wallpaper designed me believe of indoor/out of doors dwelling, so I just kind of took off with that,” she states of her conclusion to prolong the pattern to a different sitting place and eating space. Elsewhere, Hranowsky applied similarly as playful prints—like a graphic black-and-white motif in the foyer—to attractiveness to her client’s appreciate of fashionable design and style.

How do we make this dwelling definitely neat and enjoyment without having spending what we did on the principal property?

To improve the client’s spending budget, Hranowsky had to shop clever. She bought strictly British wallpaper rather than achieving for American manufacturers mainly because “you get double the sum of wallpaper in a single part than you do with American wallpaper,” she explains. “I saved considering, if we can adhere to British wallpaper, we can get additional for our dollars in conditions of covering all of these partitions.” In the dwelling space, she experienced two tiny rugs sewn together—which she ordered on sale from The Rug Company—to produce 1 bigger rug.

Hranowsky also relied on repurposed household furniture and classic finds—some of which arrived from the client’s primary home—to hold charges very low. A white rattan chair that went unused at the waterfront property, for example, is now situated in a person of the sitting down locations. The eating place desk was also repurposed, while the dining chairs had been sourced from a area antique shop.

“Occasionally it’s appealing when you have difficulties like that,” Hranowsky claims of the price range. “You come up with things that you happen to be like, ‘Oh, wow. I won’t be able to believe we really pulled this off.'”


Bedroom

bedroom, dark gray wallcovering, tropical floral headboard and bed set

Julia Lynn

A custom mattress wrapped in Schumacher’s Seychelles Noir material stands out from a grasscloth wallcovering by Seabrook. Light Fixture: 17 South Antiques. Bench: Fritz Porter.


Sitting down Room

sitting room with yellow painted brick fireplace, pink couch with large black coffee table and coffee table books, leopard print area rug

Julia Lynn

Relatively than applying wallpaper in the sitting place, Hranowsky determined on a delicate yellow-inexperienced paint. “It is a seriously exciting coloration,” she claims. She prolonged the sunny hue to the brick hearth, which was leftover from the home’s unique architecture. “It can be genuinely stunning with the window subsequent to it,” suggests Hranowsky. Paint: Farrow & Ball. Lamp: Circa Lighting. Rug: DVF, The Rug Corporation.


Entryway

entryway into house, black and white geometric wallpaper, black and brown chair

Julia Lynn

entryway into house, black and white geometric wallpaper with black coat rack

Julia Lynn

The entryway was important a offering level for the house owners. “I assume a single of the appeals of the house was that, when you stroll in, you will find this genuinely attractive, authentic, oval, lobby with these pink terrazzo floors,” states Hranowsky. “Which is sort of rare in Charleston.” At possibly side of the foyer, there are entrances to two of the home’s sitting parts, which Hranowsky took into thing to consider though determining on wallpaper for the room. “I thought I would actually appreciate to juxtapose that with a thing super graphic.”


Living Place

living room with zebra area rug, palm wallpaper, orange curtains on black curtain rods, pink tropical couch

Julia Lynn

References to the outdoor abound. “We dwell in this tropical environment. You see a large amount exterior in the yard and there’s a great deal of inexperienced,” claims Hranowsky. So I just imagined, you’re form of bringing a little bit of the outside in.”

living room, with red sitting couch, palm tree wallpaper and large zebra area rug

Julia Lynn


Dining Place

dining table with black and brown sitting chairs, white round dining table with white fruit bowls

Julia Lynn

The blue chandelier was a blessed come across, as Hranowsky recollects it. “It can be from the late eighties, early nineties,” she says. “I uncovered it from this vintage retail store I have been to a million instances. The guys that own it have been having rid of almost everything from their store in their warehouse at the very same time that I was executing this dwelling. So, I acquired it for a super insane rate.” Chairs: Brentwood Thonet, John Pope Antiques.


Abide by Property Stunning on Instagram.

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Grandstanding, or critical needs? City Council debates streets, landscaping, and staffing fire engines in budget hearing finale

Photo of overgrown Apopka sign, used in presentation by Commissioner Kyle Becker

By Reggie Connell, Managing Editor

By any measurement, the Fiscal Year 2021-22 budget process was the most contentious in recent memory. From economic development, to wish lists, to staffing sizes on fire trucks, to millage rates, there was something for everyone to agree or disagree with on this one.

But with a 4-1 vote to approve the 4.1876 millage rate and a $130 million total budget last week, the final hearing/vote could have been a formality wrapped up in short order.

But after 90 minutes of debate at Wednesday’s final budget hearing, it was clear that would not be the case.

Commissioner Kyle Becker, the lone dissenter in the first vote for the budget/millage, took a tour of Apopka in the preceding week between hearings and even had photos to share with the Council.

“I’m not trying to place blame on anyone here, but either it’s a lack of execution or a lack of funding. If we’re saying this is good enough, we’ve got to have a conversation.”

Becker went on to present multiple photos of areas in Apopka that needed significant attention. His premise was that if there are this many things overlooked on its streets and landscaping, maybe there are departments underfunded.

“This is just an hour and a half trip around the city,” he said. “And yet we’re thinking about giving back $400,000-$500,000 of tax revenues that can go to improving Apopka?”

Then Becker showed a photo of the Apopka Fire Department’s massive tower truck.

“This is our tower truck. It’s a 100-foot rig. Two people respond to calls on this apparatus,” Becker said. “These are critical needs.”

Commissioner Kyle Becker: “This is our tower truck. It’s a 100-foot rig. Two people respond to calls on this apparatus. These are critical needs.”

Commissioner Doug Bankson was first to respond to Becker, although he found the observations too late to act on.

“I would say this would have been a great presentation at the beginning of our budgeting process to see why it isn’t getting done,” he said. “Do you have an estimate on those things getting done? I thought some of these things were funded. I know in some cases it was because of the transition between the prisoner program we had used to using our own people, and it wasn’t on the list. But as soon as it went on the list, it’s been done. I don’t have the answer for that because it was just presented. But we’ve done an incredible amount in this budget in back-to-back years.”

Mayor Bryan Nelson, who Becker is challenging in the 2022 Apopka Mayoral Election, saw the presentation differently than Bankson.

“It’s great grandstanding in front of the City Council,” said Nelson. “But our parks, recreation, and streets are taken care of. As far as the streets go, we’ve got the survey coming in to look at which roads need to be replaced. We also made sure the crosswalks at the schools were re-painted. Now, it’s probably only been a year or two depending on the cycle, but I wanted to make sure the schools had proper striping for the kids to go across… so we have made a lot of progress. I think if you drive around and go from Orange County to Apopka, I’d venture to say that our [streets] look better across the board. And I think our landscape guy… he struggled this year. Not for lack of trying, but for getting the people that he needs. But I’ll tell you I’ve seen him out there mowing on 441 on Saturdays and Sundays, and on 436. He tries to keep up with what we requested, but we’ve made a lot of progress. We see City Hall and we’re ready to get this all re-landscaped… so things are coming around.”

Nelson thought it might be more productive if Becker simply pointed out these issues with staff instead of making a visual presentation during the final budget hearing.

“A lot of these things are just… he [Becker] could have emailed Edward [City Administrator Edward Bass] and gotten a response on some of the small fixes that are a part of our budget,” Nelson said.

 

But Becker did not see these issues as small fixes, and according to him, it wasn’t the first time he approached the staff or Council.

“I don’t view this as grandstanding,” he said. “I see these as critical needs. I’ve presented stuff like this before in City Council. I’ve sent emails as residents put their requests forward. What I’m saying is, if this is an execution issue – okay. Let’s manage through that. But for me as a layperson outside looking in as a commissioner, I have to assume that if these basic things aren’t getting done, it has to be a funding resource capacity and other things that aren’t directly related to execution. And if it’s a funding mechanism, which is what I believe, then we should be providing those departments with the proper and adequate funding to get the job done properly. I will not ever say that I’m grandstanding when it comes to properly funding our fire department.”

“He is right about the 429,” said Commissioner Diane Velazquez. “It’s an eyesore. For me, it has been the signage. I’m hoping we can get to that point where we have a sign when you come off 51 that says ‘Welcome to Apopka’ and there is no sign there. We are driving on the 429, which I do use often. That house always catches my attention and that is part of Apopka. We should have done something with that house years ago. And somehow either paint it or demolish it. Those are the only two choices you have with that. But you always have to see that dilapidated house on the highway there.”

Commissioner Diane Velazquez: “That house always catches my attention and that is part of Apopka. We should have done something with that house years ago. And somehow we should find… either paint it or demolish it. Those are the only two choices you have with that. But you always have to see that dilapidated house on the highway there.”

Velazquez then turned her attention back to the Apopka Fire Department.

“How much did we [the taxpayers] pay for that engine?” she asked Bass.

“Over a million dollars,” Bass said.

“Is it wrong for the firefighters to say it needs to be staffed with three firefighters minimum?” she asked. “We’re putting two firefighters on a truck we paid over a million dollars for.”

“The fire chief spoke to that,” Bass said. “He laid his plan out and he has his future plans. We applied for some grant opportunities. We’re hoping to see some movement there. We have a great fire department and the safety of our firefighters is very important.”

“I had a conversation with the chief [APD Chief Sean Wylam] yesterday and I did say that to him,” said Velazquez. “I don’t want to keep beating him up, but I want him to commit that he will, at least, address the one important thing the firefighters are wanting… to secure a three-person team at a minimum on this apparatus. I’m glad we’re seeing it and hearing what we paid for it because it should be staffed [with three] – I agree.”

“I understand,” said Nelson. “That’s the union.”

“It’s not just the union,” Velazquez said.

“We got our ISO-1 rating 17 years ago, and we ran the same program,” Nelson said. “So under Chiefs Anderson, Bronson, Carnesale, and Wylam, we’ve always had a two-man squad and a two-man fire truck. So now, all of a sudden, 17 years later, now it’s important we go to three. What changed?”

 

As Wylam approached the podium, Becker responded to Nelson’s question.

“The thing is the [AFD] staffing levels are at 29, citywide, at any given time based on our last hearing,” Becker said. “I don’t think staffing levels were below that in past years. Now granted, the model hasn’t changed, but at least for me personally, we have always gotten into this idea of ISO, ISO, ISO until recently, and quite honestly, it isn’t because of the union, but the material that came as a result that we were copied on, where it was articulated what that means in terms of staffing on an apparatus… based on the national standards for firefighters where it’s 15-person minimum on these calls. And I know you can only respond to one structure fire in the city at a time when you staff at 29. So, it’s a combination of things.”

“It’s my understanding from your [Wylam’s] presentation that you agree we need to have three per engine,” said Commissioner Alexander Smith. “It’s your methodology how we get there… and you want to make sure it’s done correctly. I understand that if we don’t receive the grant, that we’re going to fund those six that you’ve requested from the reserves – three district chiefs, and three firefighters – and we’re moving in that direction. You said you want to do it the right way… is that correct?”

“Yes,” said Wylam. “We’ve always had two people assigned to this apparatus. One of the first things I did, if you remember, is I augmented manpower from Stations 5 and 6 and put them at Station 1 so we could put an officer on this unit. Assigning the right personnel is vitally important.”

Wylam went on to explain that adding district chiefs was his goal for this budgeting cycle rather than adding a third member to the two-person teams.

“So, we’ve always had two people assigned. Nothing has changed as far as that goes. What I asked for this year as well as last year was a district chief. That’s a safety-related issue. We need supervision. We need control. We have seven lieutenants right now. We have six engines and one tower truck. That’s seven lieutenants per shift. Right now, we have one district chief who supervises all of those people. If we do respond to multiple calls, we want those district chiefs to disperse. We want a safety officer.”

He also used an example of the Orange County Fire and Rescue Department calling on the AFD for assistance.

“We’re handling our call volume. We’re able to respond. We have a contract with the county. We also have a contract in place where we assist when they call us. We responded 175-190 times in the last two years to assist Orange County. How many times did we ask them to assist us? Zero. We’re handling our call volume and more. Only .8{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} of the fire departments in the country have an ISO-1 rating. That is the litmus test… and for these grants, that’s the litmus test. We’ve applied for them for multiple years. The squad system is in place and it’s worked for 20 years. Again, are we going to grow? Absolutely. Are we going to increase our manpower when it’s necessary? Absolutely. But I can tell you right now, we have a great department. I get it. We’re growing, and we all want to move in that same direction as Chief McKinley. But what my priorities are now, and you want to talk about safety, is the district chiefs.”

Despite the AFD’s success in servicing calls and assisting Orange County, Becker still believes three-person teams are a safer way to approach a fire call.

“I just feel like the line of discussion up here [City Council] is that it’s incorrect thinking to try and get to three-person staffing on the apparatus,” he said. “But I’ll go back to the budget workshop where I asked if money were no object, is that a staffing model you would pursue, and the answer was in the affirmative… so it’s not like I’m fabricating this idea of going to this model because I think you agree we should be going to this model. I’m just using your acknowledgment during the budget workshop.”

“As we increase…,” said Wylam. “But when you ask if we can handle more than one fire call… we’re not Orlando yet. We’re getting there. We’re more like Ocoee right now. Ocoee cannot handle more than one fire call without the help of the county. That’s why agreements are in place. It’s a mutual aid thing, but we are handling our calls. We proved it by showing on a daily basis how many times we are assisting them. They signed a contract with us.”

“Just to bring this into perspective for me, in the tenure I’ve been here, I believe it was three or four years ago we added 28 firefighters,” said Bankson. “We were beginning to see bigger buildings, and so we got the tower truck. I don’t have any issue with our model changing if the structure of our city is changing… but the issue is we can’t do all of it at once.”

Bankson recalls that the millage rate increased already, and giving back a small discount to taxpayers will go a long way during these difficult times.

“My bigger point is we’ve gone from 3.76 [millage] to what it is now [4.1876],” he said. “We extended that because some of the things were still unknown back when we set the temporary millage rate [4.2876] and so we pushed it higher. Some of the things were resolved… so where do we go? We’ve got a taxpayer base that has been through two of the most difficult years. We have restaurants that are closing. Businesses that are closing. People have lost their jobs. People have not been able to catch up. Insurance rates are skyrocketing. Gas is going up. Food is going up. These are practical issues that are affecting every common person’s budget. So again, I’m not arguing against anyone. I respect everyone up here [City Council]. And I want to get to that goal. I’ll just say that. I just want to make sure we’re doing it in a wise way that’s not strangling the cow that’s giving the milk.”

Becker, however, thinks the city has too many critical needs to address, as evidenced by his photos, to give away $400,000.

“What I presented tonight is pictures…. pictures to words I’ve said over and over and over again,” he said. “This is a state of affairs. I harken back to the last budget workshop a year ago. There was a comment made on the dais to say ‘no one will remember a year from now that the grass was 12 inches too high’. These are views I’ve said repeatedly are an issue. I’ll use Lester Road striping as an example. We said in previous years that it would be taken care of… that never happened. So these things, while we say we have a budget for it, I just don’t have proof. I think it would be more prudent to prove that we can get these things done, and then lower the millage…than trusting that things that haven’t been getting done will get done.”

He is also concerned about potentially depleting the general fund reserve should several key grants not come in.

“We have to be careful now, because what we’re saying is we have six fire positions that, if we don’t get grant funding for, will be paid from reserves. We’ve got 10 police positions that, if we don’t get grant funding for, will come out of reserves. We’ve got the fire department venting costs that will come from reserves if we don’t get the grants. We’re treading into the area where we’re treating our reserve as an operational account, not a rainy day fund as we all sat up here and said needs to happen. So we have a lot of people with hands open in reserve balance funds if they don’t get the grants. The $400,000 in tax money, which I think is fair, keeps the tax rate the same as it is today, hedges our bets if we don’t get those grants, which we need to spend on critical needs in our city.”

Smith closed his remarks by reminding the Council that there are residents who need the refund no matter how small it is.

“A couple of residents saw the rhetoric that people were saying about ‘it’s only going to save them $15’, and their comment was ‘$15 may not sound like a lot to us sitting up here [City Council] because they think we’re rich… but to us, $15 means a lot.’ And even if it’s only at tax time when they pay their tax bill, that $15 could make a difference of whether they pay it or not. So $15 is a lot to them and they don’t want us to make a joke out of it in meetings that were talking about it.”

The final vote, despite the debate, ended exactly as it did a week ago; a 4-1 approval with Becker being the lone dissenter.