Don't give up control over county purse strings

Don't give up control over county purse strings
EDITOR:
A former Columbiana County commissioner once said the reason the county sales tax was temporary was so that the tax payers of the county could judge for themselves the way the county was spending the money. If they did not like the way the money was being used then they had the opportunity to not renew the tax.
Now we will be asked in November to replace this temporary tax with a permanent tax. To the Columbiana County commissioners, I now say emphatically that I DO NOT approve of the way my tax dollars are being spent or accounted for in the county. News stories of late have pointed out the glaring inefficiency with which the county oversees how the money is handled. The Strabala fiasco that cost the people of the county millions of dollars. County employees using county credit cards for personal purchases. Raises given to county employees at a time when workers in the private sector are being forced to give back pay and incentives. Some county employees not having to contribute to their medical plans, while most in the private sector do.
And now the news comes out that county employees are living large on taxpayers money while taking county related trips to Columbus and elsewhere. Overnight stays at taxpayer expense in plush hotels with the excuse that Columbus is just too far away to go down and come back in one day? How dumb do they think we are? Trust me when I say if the person taking the trip had to pay for it all out of his pocket then a one day trip, down and back, to Columbus would be no problem at all.
Making this sales tax permanent would be a big mistake, in my opinion. It's bad enough that we the people of this great country have very little control of the bureaucrats in Washington, but to give up the little bit of control we now have of our money locally is foolish.
TOM HALL
Lisbon
Time to take off the shades
EDITOR:
As I watch the news and George W. Bush on each of the real issues that are threatening our future and our children's futures, I am struck by one thing: George Bush just doesn't want to admit that there is a problem anywhere.
We have no problem in Iraq, even as our troops are killed daily. We have no trouble with our environment, even as we see ourselves that the weather has changed dramatically and we can't eat the fish of our lakes and the sea because of mercury.
We have no problem with our economy, even as we lose jobs to other countries and our standard of living goes down.
We have no problem with debt, even as our national debt goes skyward and our trade debt goes in the same direction.
We have no problem with oil shortages, even as the price goes up each month and the supplies goes down.
If you don't admit that there is a problem you are never going to solve that problem. I think it is past time for George Bush to take off his rose colored glasses and see that we are in deep trouble.
I think it is time for the people to take off their shades and vote in someone who will admit there are problems and work to solve them. Time is running out and we may not have four more years left.
PAUL SHANABARGER
New Springfield