Letter to the Editor

Switz City man questions how grant, local money is spent

Friday, May 2, 2008

To The Editor:

To the taxpayers of Greene County, the I-69 Planning Grant: $150,000 state tax dollars, plus the $120,000 local tax dollars our county council has already voted to give the Greene County Economic Development Corporation just in this year alone to orchestrate this effort.

Multiple volunteers for committees; such enthusiasm, such energy, and such selfless dedication by all involved. All of these things are brought to bear to create a bottomless morass of needless regulation and governmental interference with the legitimate rights and freedoms of not just property owners but all other citizens and business owners across the entire county.

Over a quarter of a million dollars spent by our elected officials who can't seem to find the funds to do most of what they are supposed to be doing anyway, and all of this money being spent is solely to create regulatory quagmire of endless expense and problems for everyone and to infringe on or take away many of the rights and freedoms of every citizen in the county. If you think your taxes are high now, just wait. By the time all this regulatory and bureaucratic dead weight is added to the county budget, we might be able to rival even Monroe County in taxes and living expenses. All of this from our elected officials who can't/won't keep the roads repaired, can't/won't enforce public health and safety laws, can't/won't deal with so many other problems to numerous to mention that the county residents deserves to have addressed and problems that they already have the regulatory authority deal with, but can't/won't.

These same officials and their newly appointed subordinates and their politically appointed friends will now be able to tell multi-million dollar corporations where they must locate their businesses and what land they must buy, and exclude other landowners from selling their land to the businesses even if they would like to buy it. How comforting it must be to the boards of directors of these companies to know they are being looked after by are very capable local leaders.

Think how much needed road work could have been done, how our elderly and poor could have been helped, how our schools could have been helped to educate our children for tomorrow's world, how many jobs might have been attracted to the county, how many other useful and needed things could have been accomplished with this amount of dedication and effort.

Think about what our elected leaders could have done with all this money and energy for the people of the county rather than what they are striving to do to the people of the county. And just think; these same people represent you and me. No small wonder the Governor wants to do away with county government. What a pitiful waste.

Otis J. Russell

Switz City