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Home » Behind the Headlines

What would you buy with $180,000?

Submitted by Noah R. Bombard on December 6, 2009 – 2:24 pmView Comments

The Worcester County Sheriff's Department's Mobile Command Center.

When times get tough the government … well … just keeps on spending. The Telegram today offered up a little PR for the state EPA on their latest gadget – the Field Assessment and Support Team vehicle (otherwise known as the FAST vehicle — because somewhere in the fine printof the U.S. Constitution is a rule requiring government things to have acronyms).

The $180,00 federally-funded vehicle enables “on-scene environmental staff to more rapidly test for air, water and soil contaminants and better protect the public during emergencies,” according to the EPA’s announcement (which was actually made mid-September). Comments on the Telegram’s story mirror those made a few years ago when the Worcester County Sheriff’s Department announced the delivery of another federally-funded toy: the Mobile Command Center (that one came at a cool half million price tag from Homeland Security). The gist of the comments: Basically, isn’t there something more important this money could have been spent on? It’s a good question.

The line we usually hear: hey, it came from the federal government (interpret as “it’s free!”) Of course, if you’ve taken a look at the federal taxes on your paycheck recently, you know “free” isn’t something the feds really do. I find it difficult to really direct any criticism at the local government agencies that accept these federal government offered toys. When was the last time you turned down something “free?” But questioning critics (I’ll admittedly throw myself into that category) have a valid argument. When your household budget gets tight, you cut out the “extras” and sometimes even some of the essentials — this is certainly happening on a local government level. It’s difficult to swallow, then, when mobile command centers or “support team” vehicles role out to communities — I’m guessing these little gas guzzlers aren’t getting even 20 miles to the gallon (and that does come out of these agency’s budgets).