Remember how you felt when you paid off your first car?
For most people there is a sense of relief as well as a sense of accomplishment.
Pay off a mortgage and the feelings are even more intense.
Warren County is closing in on a milestone that should provide some sense of relief for taxpayers, and a sense of accomplishment for county officials that have worked over the past several years to keep things frugal.
It is estimated that Warren County government will be debt-free by 2019, a little more than eight years from now.
If the County Commissioners can stay on a fiscally conservative course; if the county can avoid costly emergencies; there is a good chance that eight years from now county taxes will not be sent down the rat hole of loan interest.
If that comes to pass, future county commissioners could use the balance sheet from 2019 as a sort of benchmark for budgets far into the future.
Of course, no one can accurately predict the future and to say that the county will never have to borrow another dime is naive at best. Things happen.
Nevertheless, for a municipal government to incur debt and pay it off, should still be considered a milestone. And, it is a milestone that's not lost on credit rating companies. It's a milestone that should also not be lost on the county's school board.