A small section of Martin Luther King Jr. Road in northern Adams County epitomizes underlying infrastructure problems in our community — and our local government’s addiction to other sources of money to fix local problems.

The road in question is still functional, but has two large, adjacent areas in which heavy rains have washed away sections of the road’s surface.

The 30- to 40-foot drop offs are within feet of the edge of the roadway. Looking at the drop-offs, seeing the potential for disaster is easy.

The county engineer initially suggested the road be limited to a single lane of traffic out of an abundance of caution.

Later, after the engineer and the county road manager reviewed the area, the county leaders decided to leave the roadway open and simply monitor the situation.

The initial estimate for repairs of the two areas is more than $300,000. That is money the county obviously does not want to spend, thus the county is seeking to push the federal government to release Emergency Watershed Protection funds to quickly remedy the problems.

The county recently admitted that EWP projects often are hit and miss as to quality because they can come with less money than is required to do the work properly. So by county leaders’ own admission, if the project is federally funded before the road caves in, the repairs may not last long.

While we appreciate the use of “other people’s money,” as former Natchez Mayor Butch Brown was fond of saying, all government money is our money. In this case, the source is federal, but it was derived from taxpayers.

We would prefer lower federal taxes and more local taxes so the community could cover its own needs, with its own money.

Local leaders need to look hard at their respective budgets and trim enough out to begin creating their own “rainy day” fund, which in this case, ironically, could rebuild a road to drive on for the next rainy day.