My old stomping grounds for about 15 years (Alexandria, Virginia) is insisting on moving forward with a project to spend 173,000 scarce taxpayer dollars in these lean times — even as taxpaying families are setting aside the frivolous and even what they consider basics — on a new “green roof” to replace a 13-year-old roof with no history of problems and a 25-year life expectancy. The other $200,000 is being paid for by all taxpayers through the EPA. OK, mostly by future taxpayers.

If Alexandria doesn’t spend the $173,000 they don’t have, you see, they won’t qualify for EPA giving them $200,000 the federal government doesn’t have. So they have to do it. They won’t get that bag of money from the federal government if they don’t undertake this expenditure.

Seriously. That’s what Alexandria is saying, according to the Washington Examiner. The city’s argument in support of such irresponsibility, on the heels of outraged taxpayers finding out about it, is that in the future the EPA might not consider Alexandria responsible enough to receive grants if they decided against this expenditure which, apparently, is the embodiment of responsibility.

“Pulling out of the project would also jeopardize Alexandria’s future requests for grant funds, according to City Budget Director Bruce Johnson.
’If we were to tell the EPA, “Oh I’m sorry, we’ve changed our mind,” do you think they would give us a grant in the future?” Johnson said. ‘We can’t do business that way.’”

No. Of course not. The only proper way to do business is to spend money you don’t have because otherwise you won’t get a bag of money from the feds to pay for the other half of something. And everyone knows we have to do something. This roof is something. Ergo . . .

That’s a liberal government’s idea of “business”.

And it’s happening all over the country. A perfect story for these times. Absolutely perfect.