It’s been a debate every time it’s come up in recent years, and there really are no simple “black and white” answers.

It boils down to a judgment call by the Town Council, which must factor in various truisms before rendering a subjective decision – should the Town of Fountain Hills help fund community-service organizations? And if so, how much?

The trend by local government in recent years has been to cut these contracts, particularly the ones that could be considered outside of the realm of economic development – Extended Hands Food Bank, Fountain Hills Theater and the McKee Branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale.

Theater officials walked away quite pleased with last week’s budget deliberations, since a majority of the council funded their full request ($70,240), taking some money from the General Fund and some from economic-development allocations.

The Boys & Girls Club and food bank walked away with cuts, though not as drastic as Town Manager Ken Buchanan was recommending.

While we understand there have been personnel cuts among town staff with a renewed emphasis on street maintenance and repairs in coming years, it’s also fair to say that with $13.18 million allocated in General Fund expenditures, it’s not unreasonable to expect a very small portion of that to be spent on the above services.

While it might be politically expedient to eventually eliminate these services, we think it’s in the community’s overall best interests to keep partially funding them.