It's nice to know that life is good in Newton Falls.
Everybody in the village is swimming in so much cash that they can continue to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year more than necessary just to have their own 911 emergency dispatching.
Crime is so low it's not necessary to even consider the possibility that the Trumbull County Sheriff's Office could increase law enforcement there.
And now Village Council gave first reading to a tax increase and a plan to divert money to an inefficient police department.
Council's ordinance would eliminate the income tax forgiveness granted to residents who work and pay municipal taxes elsewhere. Nearly every other municipality in the Mahoning Valley grants this forgiveness.
An alternative to the tax increase would be to request a proposal from the sheriff to see how much protection and at what cost he could provide. Chances are he could provide more for less.
Council plans to divert money from self-sustaining funds like water and electricity to the general fund so more could be spent on police. If those funds have extra money, lowering utility rates should be the first choice.
Then again, life's so good in Newton Falls those things aren't that important.