Kudos To The City Of Sparks, NV.

Sometimes, it is not a good thing to accept money from the devil err, Federal government. We found that this year in the Clark County School District when they accepted about $56 million in federal money last year, only to lose it this year, resulting in the lay offs of hundreds of employees was just a stupid move by the previous superintendent.
However, some cities are not going to suck from the teat of the Federal government and the City Sparks, NV. is one of those cities.
From the Reno Gazette Herald: Though the issue is much smaller, Sparks also is turning down federal funds through a 3-2 City Council vote to reject spending $238,241 for a new street sweeper. Money for the sweeper would have been fully reimbursed by the federal government through a grant.
Cutting costs
The decision last week came about two months after the council had decided to outsource routine street sweeping to a California company. The move, which was effective July 1, is projected to cut Sparks' costs by $107,596 a year.
The new city street sweeper, which would have replaced an older version, was requested to help reduce dust in Sparks, handle work the private contractor does not and help meet federal clean air requirements.
"This is why the federal government is broke and the rest of the world is going to pay the price for it -- because we make laws, and then we turn around and we write checks to go ahead and have people comply with the laws," said Councilman Ron Schmitt, who voted against using the federal money.
"We've got to contract to save (money) to do that (sweeping), and now we're going spend $238,000 a year to buy another piece of equipment," Schmitt added. "People look at this and go, 'I just don't understand the math that government uses.' "
http://www.rgj.com/article/20110819/NEIGHBORHOODS04/108190305/Sparks-rejects-federal-funding-proposal-called-waste-money-?odyssey=tabtopnewstextFRONTPAGE
If state and local governments start rejecting Federal money, maybe the federal budget will become more balanced. While the Federal government can spend some money in the States, it often comes with expensive requirements.
That's not to say all Federal government spending is bad. Spending Federal money in emergencies, and protection of citizens is the job of the Federal government and I have no problem with that. But why does the Federal government in the business giving out money for cities to buy street sweepers? What Federal interest is it for cities like Sparks to have a street sweeper paid for by the Federal government? None.
So, good for Sparks to decline this Federal money, but you know some community in Nevada will take it and that is unfortunate.