We Can't Always Have.....More

I seem to notice that the older I get, the more sensitive I am to taxes. I think that is natural since I’m getting closer and closer to a time when I will make less and less income.

Did you see the figures for property taxes in Wayne County? With this year’s 3-and-a-half percent increase, the property tax bill you will get in the next two weeks will be up about 16-percent over the bill you got three years ago. I know the state has squeezed the schools…I know Airtex left….I know, I know  I know. The bottom line is, taxpayers are having to dig deeper.

That’s why I listened closely to the debate at this week’s city council meeting. The city currently picks up yard waste. But the truck they use is worn out and the department in charge is said to be undermanned.

The cost for a continuation of the service will be in excess of $100-thousand dollars. The only way to handle that in the budget is to-----you guessed it-----raise the monthly garbage rate five bucks a month. An increased service fee above the taxes we already pay.

If you don’t need your yard waste hauled…you still get to pay another $60-bucks a year for two yard waste employees and a new truck. There was no decision on the matter.

You see the spiral? It is bad here and the state is poised to make it worse with a proposed new income tax on top of all of the other new state taxes.

We are going to have to come to terms with this----Government will have to do less….with less. There’s a point where we can’t choose…..more.