Buncombe County Manager Dr. Wanda Greene has announced the county will not close the indoor pool at the Zeugner Center. The county, despite its arguments that the pool would collapse and swallow the swimmers whole, has succumbed to public pressure, and will now invest $150,000 to maintain the facility another year while working on a $6.5 million pool that will surely multiply economics out the yin-yang with all the dollars its tractor beam will suck out of the pockets of tourists conveyed to the area by its majesty. You think I’m kidding? Lo!
Swimmers are pushing for an even bigger facility that could include multiple pools and a diving area. Such aquatics centers can cost in excess of $20 million. Proponents point to other centers that have used private money in addition to taxpayer dollars and that have served as economic generators for their regions.
It goes like this: Government gets rich by splurging and wasting money because it will whine that its budget is spent when roads need fixing and teachers need pay. State and federal legislators are more than happy to send home more pork. The bigger the waste, the more jobs and other multipliers are claimed. Who knows? Maybe the government will win the lottery. Yeah. That’s the ticket.
