The advantages of Pasco County’s decision to engage lobbyists is the topic of this KEPR-TV report.

Money might be tight, but lobbying records show cities and counties are not going without lobbyists. In fact, dozens of local governments have hired people or firms to represent them in the last few months.

The City of Pasco is among those governments—hiring its first ever federal lobbyist.

City Manager Gary Crutchfield says the city already has a lobbyist representing it at the state level in Olympia. And he says that has gone very well. For example, he says at a cost of $60 thousand dollars over two years, the city once got $4 million dollars in state funding for local projects.