Budget woes continue to force Americans to tighten their belts by means of trimming their spending. Seemingly every family, business and company is being crippled by the cuts.

Since 9/11, likely no two words have been quite as common or over-used as budget cuts.They are the reason your college tuition bill has packed a few extra numbers before the decimal point, they may be the reason you are slaving at a local fast food joint to make ends meet, they are part of the reason negotiations between faculty and administrators still have yet to settle on a new three-year faculty contract and those cuts are the reason students and residents may be dolling out 6.75 percent in sales taxes rather than the current 6.25 percent after the City Council unanimously approved the tax referendum Tuesday for the April ballot.

Although students may balk in disgust at the effects the economy has had on them in more ways than what’s listed above, it can be said as college students, we are the lucky ones right now. Sure, it is easy to complain about having to be extremely frugal and about all the quarrels our university seems to be engaged in regarding budget matters, but students are probably not drastically suffering.

Granted, the future repercussions of the state of our economy today may unfortunately put some students in uncomfortable or heart-wrenching financial situations, but for at least right now, college-level students are the winners. They are the ones who are gaining invaluable knowledge and not the ones who are fighting tooth and nail for a job in such a stringent job market.

On the other hand, students in a hand full of rural school districts nation-wide may not be so lucky. In Colorado, Arizona, Louisiana, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Wyoming and Wisconsin school districts now have classes conducted a mere four days a week. And last week, the Charleston Times Courier reported Mattoon school districts may follow suit sooner than later.

Even though people are undoubtedly keenly aware of budget scale backs and the ill-effects, perhaps Mayor Dan Cougill might want to take a stand on Charleston’s dreary economic situation.

Most of us may be out-of-towners, but we still comprise half of this town. The city’s increased tax proposal obviously will generate some revenue, but if the mayor got creative, and didn’t give students the impression he was shunning or ignoring them so often, there’s a chance the budget would perk up even more so.

In recent weeks, noticing other mayors inviting their states and communities to help fight budget cuts in order to prevent an increase in state property taxes was uplifting.

Most mayors can’t afford to embrace only $1 of their $195,000 yearly paycheck like New York multimillionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, but using their charismatic personalities to attract patron donations has helped rejuvenate several cities’ budgets.

According to a recent USA Today article, York, Penn. Mayor John Brenner asked townspeople to donate $3.32 a piece, “about the cost of McDonald’s Happy Meal,” to help reduce cuts in various city services, he said. He has proudly watched the city receive $85,000 since last month.

Some other city mayors are simply asking for a $1-per-person donation to help offset costs.

Simply informing citizens their assistance would greatly be appreciated to help fight a lifeless economy demonstrates mayors have faith in their cities while also showing they believe teamwork can substantially help the city as a whole fight budget cuts.

Asking residents for a tiny bit of financial assistance may not pan out here, but at the very least, it shows the mayor is concerned for citizens and wants to exhaust every avenue to help prevent future city service costs from rising.

A tax increase is not a long-term answer for the Charleston’s budget troubles. Perhaps it is time to involve citizens in on what a reasonable answer to those troubles would be. This is a close knit town despite so many inhabitants being college students, but if their help is never called upon, the impact they could have will forever be a mystery.