If you haven't looked at the council story in this week's Comet, you should. There is the usual yakking about money - not enough of it, what to spend it on and where to get more of it. Such is the nature of their business.

But, there is another notable item in that story of which each and every resident in Carroll County should take note.

The council usually starts looking at next year's budget around June or July. They might give it some lip service prior to that, but the real work gets going sometime in the heat of the summer.

This year the process is going to be done a little differently. Under the guidance of new president Ann Brown and with the full cooperation of every council member, not only will the budget work begin earlier but each member will work directly with several department heads to help them understand the budget process, to guide them in making appropriation requests and to be the council expert about that department's spending needs when other council members have questions.

This action is one of the best things to happen to this county in several years. And it is no small feat. Meeting with various department heads will take significant time on the part of each and every member of the council. And it will all be done for the good of the county.

We should never again hear that council members don't care about any office in the courthouse or beyond. We should never again hear that council members just don't understand how department heads think about various issues and why they do some of the things they do. And we should never again hear a department head ask for an outlandish amount of money for a line item when they know the county does not have the funds to support the request.

Now it's the department heads chance to rise up and meet the challenge. It is their time to step up and learn how county finances really do work. It might not be as rosy as it could be, but we guarantee one thing...it will be honest and truthful.

One council member was quoted in this week's paper as saying they had the "bejeezus" scared out of them last year because of the measures they were forced to take to keep the county from falling further into debt than they did. Not one council member has forgotten that feeling. And the two new guys went into the situation fully armed with the facts of the issues, so they must be ready to roll up their sleeves and pitch in to help.

The council may not always have done and said the right things nor always pleased every resident, but one thing is for sure, they deserve everyone's cooperation this year.