Huntington street levy, part 2

Seven councilmembers attended this afternoon's meeting to discuss the proposed street levy. No vote was taken. Bryan Chambers attended the entire meeting and should have a comprehensive story in Thursday's edition of The Herald-Dispatch.

After Councilman Garry Black gave his reasons for offering the ordinance, a good part of the discussion was whether the city user fee is supposed to be used for street repaving. Councilmembers Jim Ritter and Jim Insco said that was what council voted for. Dick Thornburgh, director of administration and finance and Mayor David Felinton's top aide, said the user fee is for police and for street maintenance.

Ritter was unsure how he will vote whenit comes time to pass a yea or nay. He said he's all for letting people decide these things for themselves, but he's not sure he could support a levy. Insco said he does not favor the ordinance because street paving should be funded through the user fee.

More on this tomorrow and later in the week as we prepare our editorials through Monday, but one thing is clear: If people don't trust how City Hall is spending their user fee money, will they trust City Hall to spend street levy money on streets only? Black says the levy would restrict the ordinance to resurfacing only.

In the end, it's a question of credibility.