“Taxes” is a word often used as propaganda and slander during the election season.

As a young girl, I remember complaining about the pennies I had to lay down with my dollar to pay for something. On our way home my dad explained in detail what the pennies went towards including how they supported, improved and created new things for the city and state we lived in. As the assistant state tax commissioner for the state of Nebraska, my dad implemented the state’s tax. This was only one of my learning experiences concerning taxes and fiscal matters but it was one of the most important lessons.

Fliers and advertising were not considered reliable sources of information in our household. You needed to know your facts. If it was a city matter, go to the city. Attend the meetings where information is presented both for and against projects. Find out where each group obtained their figures and information. City, county, state and national budgets and projects are public record, and the employees are community employees which mean they work for us.

I encourage all city of Fruita residents to go straight to the source for information about the proposed community center. Contact the Fruita Recreation Director, the city manager’s office or visit the proposed center’s Web site at www.fruitacc.com. It is important that as community members we vote based on the facts and not propaganda.

So when a postcard in the mail shows I will be paying for a community center in Fruita with more money than I make in a year … well, the city has some explaining to do. And after checking the facts, the proposed figures actually make sense and do not exceed my yearly salary, even over a 50 year payment which with the sunset clause will not happen. So if I’m around in 50 years to enjoy the community center I will be pretty darn happy.

TERRI HERMES
Fruita

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 10:45 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.