According to Word on the Street today, County Board member Steve Morris said, “As long as I’m on the County Board and as long as I’m on the construction committee, I’m absolutely committed to bringing this thing [Peoria Riverfront Museum] in on budget. If material or labor costs go up so much that we can’t, then it’s going to be a smaller building and the plan is going to get scaled back.”

Of course, the budget is based on the museum group meeting their private fund-raising goal, which is still short by several million dollars. Morris might want to start scaling back now.

Oh, who am I kidding? They’re not going to scale back anything. They’re just going to come back to the taxpayers to make up any shortfall, just like they’ve done all along. If the County tries to scale it back, Caterpillar will send them another threatening letter and they’ll fall into line once again. I’m sure the Journal Star has an editorial already written defending putting more taxpayer money into the project, ready to be deployed at the right moment.

“Commitment” from the County Board has a short shelf life.