Preview of my letter to the editor! Editor, The recent computer glitch gives me the opportunity to address a problem that I see regarding the taxing entities. The public hearings about the tax rates. Historically these meetings are held in the middle of the day during the work week. Historically few if any citizens ever attend these meetings. This gives your elected officials the idea that you are good with their decision of going up on the tax rate. This year property evaluations went up. Way up! I personally had property that more than doubled in value according to the appraisal district. I fought it and got it reduced but not back to where it was last year. They went up last year, too. The new values make the income of the taxing entities go up. This money will be used to fund pay raises, infrastructure improvements, retirement of debt, and more. It could also be used on new baseball fields or stadiums, new cars, furniture or other things you may or may not consider proper. Now some communities would take this newfound money as a reason for lowering the tax rates. But it doesnt look like the case here in Howard County. The cost of everything is going up. Groceries, rent, electricity, water, sewer, landfill, and of course taxes. To someone on a fixed income it becomes apparent quickly that the money doesnt make it to the end of each month. Raises across the board (excluding county commissioners) sounds good but lets address it. To the worker 4% or 5% pay raise barely covers the increased cost of living but what does it do for the higher ups that already make more money than their position has ever paid before. If they are making $70,000 a year now that increases to $72,800. At $100,000 per year it adds 4 or 5 thousand to the pay check. I think that anyone working on a salary should get less of an increase than the hourly workers. I also believe that in the real world anyone on a salary will put in more than 40 hours a week whereas the same cannot be said in a bureaucracy. If a city or county worker only works 40 hours a week then they should be hourly employees. The landfill is also a big money item on both the county and the citys budget. Yet years ago a fee was added to our monthly bill to help with the closing costs of the current landfill and the purchase and implementation of a new one. The fees have gone crazy and even though you pay a trash bill at your residence, you are still charged by the pound to dump if you carry it out there yourself. No wonder my dumpsters at my business are always full. I also had a candidate (who won his election) tell me during his campaign that the landfill made over $750,000 profit last year. If you live in this county you should be concerned! Even if you just rent this affects you. Please attend the public hearings and let your voice be heard! The elected officials dont know how bad you are hurting financially until you tell them. Howard College. September 2 and 5. 12.30 pm @ Tumbleweed room at the college. Howard county September 8 and 17. No time but will be in the middle of the day in the work week. City of Big Spring. Dates unknown but will also be posted at a later time School Districts will also have new hearings It is in your best interest to attend and speak out! Otherwise officials will assume (rightly) that you couldnt care less. I will be running ads on the local radio stations reminding the public to attend these meetings! Thank you, Scott Emerson
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 03:07:14 +0000