Monday, December 11, 2006

Hummm...Awful smug...

There is quite a smug editorial in today's paper, coming down on Menomonee Falls Village Board for charging a $85 fee to residents for garbage collection.

Editorial: Smoke, mirrors and garbage

In approving the 2007 budget, trustees plugged a deficit hole by taking garbage collection off the tax rolls and imposing a user fee of about $85 for residents who receive trash service. It's hardly the first time an area municipality has charged a fee for a service, and there is little doubt that the property tax is overburdened as a source of revenue for governments.

Alot of what this editorial talks about is correct, however, this same editorial staff does not seem to come down on Governor Jim Doyle for doing the same thing.

Governor Doyle and state legislators get a pass for the excessive amount of fees that we pay.

Think about the fees that you pay on the state level. For example, we pay for a driver's license, vehicle registration, hunting license, fishing license and the list goes on and on.

Yes, there is a cap on increasing taxes every year, but the state does allow for tax increases every year. If local governments feel they need money they have the means and the opportunity to go back to the taxpayers and ask for more money in a referendum.

That's the way things should be...our government should answer to us, the taxpayer. Instead for too many years, we have answered to our government.

Now, local government officials have been forced to answer to us, however, we are still having a problem getting the state government to answer to us.

Yes, the local government should answer to us, however, the editorial staff at MJS and every single taxpayer should apply the same rules to state government.

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