I didn't see the article in yesterday's Daily Sun until long after I'd pontificated. However, it really doesn't change that much. This seems to be pretty early in the budget process with one side threatening X% cuts and the other predicting armageddon if they don't get a Y% increase.

On the other hand, I don't know Bill Farmer or really that much about him, but he seems like a definite hardball player and completely rolled over the commission on the jail debate last year. He's liable to strip the sheriff's office of some critical facilities just to prove a point.

Quasi related -- I hate sunshine laws and publishing negotiations. "Open covenants openly arrived at" was a failure at Versailles and it's blatant foolishness today. As Bismarck might have said, "I have about made up my mind that laws are like sausages — the less you know about how they are made the more respect you have for them." The same is true of budgets.