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Letter: Take a hard look at city government

February 28, 2008

Dear Editor,

I remember when Bellevue Cemetery was a beautiful and peaceful place. It was well cared for by city employees who took pride in their work. The city chose to contract this work out to a company interested only in making money, supposedly to save money. Is the savings worth the mess the cemetery is in?

I remember when we had twice-weekly garbage pickup by city employees who did an excellent job. Now we have once-weekly garbage pickup. The city chose to contract this work out, too. We pay a bi-monthly tax of $14.54 for this service. I notice that garbage cans on my street are often left partially in the street. Why? I don't see garbage cans in the street on Maple Avenue or Lexington Avenue.

I received a bill for insurance on my house. The city tax on the premium is $53.26. My Kentucky Utilities bill has a Danville franchise fee (a tax) of $2.56, plus a city school tax of $3.79. I pay a payroll tax of 1.2 percent on my salary. I pay city taxes on my property. My water bill includes a city sewer tax, $13.09, and a public fire protection tax of $2.15. I know there are many more hidden city taxes. Now the city wants a tax on rainwater runoff, plus a sales tax. Where will it end? Where are our tax dollars going?

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Our police department badly needs a new station. The majority of the commissioners are more interested in building new quarters for other city employees (and a fancy meeting place for themselves), than in this much needed project.

It's time to take a long, hard look at our form of government, city manager and commissioners. A few of them are interested in all citizens of the community. But too many are elitists who want to saddle us with enormous debt for their extravagant projects. Perhaps, if they are required to be personally responsible for these debts, they will think twice before putting the city in dire financial straits. After all, there is more to Danville than Main Street from Stanford Avenue to Maple Avenue, and from Martin Luther King Boulevard to Lexington Avenue.

Charlene R. JohnsonDanville

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