Tribune editorial board

Dear Santa, we have a couple of requests for you. We know, we know, it's only the middle of October and probably a little early to be looking ahead to Christmas, but we just can't wait.

Our wishes this year seem simple, but in reality have proven to be more impossible to achieve than we first thought.

And, despite all of the cool stuff we've seen in the fall catalogs, this isn't something personal for us, exactly.

What we want is for the whole community. Santa, please give the City of Ironton some financial stability.

Our city leaders have been considering, discussing, nixing and reconsidering several similar plans to help ensure the city can pay its bills for the years ahead.

You see, it's kind of like when mom and dad give me allowance, but I want to buy something that cost more than I have. That's where the city has found itself.

All we want, Santa, is for the city to decide upon an avenue to fix the budget hole. Our biggest holiday worry, Santa, is that our city will languish in a state of financial concern longer than necessary.

It seems like it was only a bit after Christmas last year that the discussing and worrying began.

Currently, city leaders are discussing a third version of a municipal fee. They've talked about one of these until they were almost blue in the face; well some of them were red in the face as tempers flared at times.

We just need the city leaders to decide what to do and move in some direction. In the last six months of discussion, we seem to have made little progress.

And if they could make a decision without losing their temper and throwing a fit on one another, well, that would be even better.

Thanks, Santa. If anyone can make that happen, we know you can.

It is a shame that the citizens of Ironton are forced to stand by and feel as if their hands are tied until the next election. The citizens deserve better than a lump of coal.

Thanks, Santa.