A classic shell game

Here is what I had to say about the article in the DNJ about the county's budget. 

You can read the article here:

http://www.dnj.com/article/20110615/NEWS01/106150319/Budget-cruises-through-hearing?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

To say that there was no tax increase this time is not telling the truth. The money our county government had in reserve should have been returned to the people of Rutherford County. If this money can be used to make up budget shortfalls and the adding of new positions it should have been returned to the people years ago when it was first collected unnecessarily. The people think they have avoided a tax raise and county commissioners seem to think they deserve accolades, but that is simply not the case, what we have seen is a classic shell game. 

The reserve balances should not be considered Rutherford County's money; is the people’s money. Therefore it should have been returned to the people. When the county government takes money away from the private sector and then stores it away in a savings account, you are limiting capital investment and damaging the overall economy because the funds could have been put to better use elsewhere. The question to ask is does the government know how to better invest your money than you do?  

In the future, I hope that our county commission returns excess collected taxes back to the people, its rightful owners. By holding on to it to avert a tax raise is actually an underhanded way to tax the people without their knowledge. Finally, we know that the need for government services will only increase in the future. Our choices as a county will be to cut services, raise taxes, or grow the tax base.  Let’s all hope that the county commission in the coming years tries to bring new businesses and more jobs to the area so that we do not have to make painful budget cuts or painful tax raises.