Eight county commissioners should be ashamed of themselves today. Not one supported Commissioner Boyd's proposal to require two votes to raise taxes. Supposedly the budget process is public enough already- never mind that our recent tax hike was passed after the regular budget process, with only one public hearing, and that during a work day. Apparently, going to work to pay Mayor Coppinger's taxes means we shouldn't have any say in whether they are raised. Meanwhile, the public hearing was a stacked deck, packed with zealots who think the phrase "for the children" should grant an unlimited budget at our expense. This is the County Commission's idea of "public
enough" for a 10 percent tax hike.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Graham is adamant there was no tax hike at all, saying "If your appraisal stayed the same, your taxes will too." What's not mentioned is how many of our appraisals stayed the same. When almost all the taxpayers' bills go up, that's a tax increase, semantics notwithstanding.
Notice there was also no transparency in how the money was spent. HCDE misled us on everything from whether a plan existed to who had read it, finally putting it to a vote with zero advance notice. Parents whose children are affected read about it after the fact in the newspaper.
The pattern is clear - Hamilton County government as a whole does not value our input, just our wallets. Unfortunately, all we can do now is remember who said what during the primaries next year - maybe then we'll avoid a repeat performance.
Charles McCullough
East Ridge