OCR Text |
Show Involvement urged in county taxes Dear Editor: This morning I attended the hearing of the proposed Uintah County budget for 1981. There were four people present. pre-sent. I am told that there are approximately approx-imately 10,000 taxpayers in the county. I hope that the rest of you 9,996 are completely com-pletely satisfied with the plans to spend your money for the coming year. If you had been there and had expressed your honest opinions regarding the decisions of your commissioners, Commissioner Domgaard would have referred to them merely as "gripes". In other words it is fine to attend a public hearing but please don't say anything. There are only four counties in Utah which have a higher total mill levy than Uintah County. I realize that the schools are responsible for much of this. However, there are some departments depart-ments which have increased their budget over 100 over the budget of two years ago. For example the sheriff's proposed budget, including airport security and juvenile officer is more that double for a total amount of nearly Va of a million dollars. Of course I realize that with a couple of men who spend their time rounding up all of the pyramid criminals the costs are bound to add up. Speaking of pyramid criminals I know of some people who put their money in the stock market, baseball and football pools, even play bingo at the church. Perhaps we should provide enough money that all of these criminal activities can be investigated. Why can't law enforcement officers spend their time and your money eliminating drug, alcohol and traffic problems instead of harrassing citizens over something which in fact should be none of their business? I think that the time is here for all citizens of this great republic to take a good look at where we are headed then take an active part in expressing your desires and wishes to the public officials, of-ficials, from the top right down to the bottom, after we elect them to office. Yours lor government of the people by the people! , FRED WASHBURN |