Tribune editorial staff

Which side were you on in 2004? That may be the question in the coming years for Ironton city residents looking back at the nearly year-long debate over how bad the city's finances were and how best to resolve the issue.

The proverbial line in the sand was drawn early in this sandlot battle of wills.

On one side were the fiscal conservatives, who claim they recognized that change is needed, but prefer working every possible angle to improve the city's efficiency first.

These folks urged the city's administration to work any and all possible avenues to squeeze the most bang for the buck before even thinking of seeking additional funding options and sources.

On the other side of the line, sat a group who argued that working on becoming more efficient wasn't enough. Additional revenue was needed, they said.

From their perspective, if you know additional funds are needed, why wait until the bank account is overdrawn? Let's solve that problem now. Let's add a $10 fee or raise the income tax and get the money flowing again. The budget hole is only going to get worse, so let's act now to plug that hole and keep ourselves afloat.

Well, in the end, from where we stand, both sides, which was not quite this clearly defined, were correct.

The city's carryover, or surplus at the end of the year, wound up larger than originally estimated. So perhaps the side urging work on becoming more efficient had more logic behind them than many of the group's critics might have believed.

But despite the slightly rosier-than-expected conclusion to the year, the city still spent more than it brought in. That's never a good trend to be setting as it can only go down for so long.

So even if the second hand slowed a bit, the clock is still ticking toward a problem. When the alarm sounds, something will need to be done - fast.

Yes, both sides were correct.

And, both sides were incorrect.

Imagine that, when all things are said and done the situation is a mix of black and white. We hope the two "sides" continue working together to resolve this so that for future generations the question of the year might be: Where were you when Ironton got moving in the right direction and soaring into the future again?