LETTER: Local Government Should Start Cutting Budgets

By Beacon Staff

A high number of people in the Flathead Valley are protesting their property taxes. I think this tells the government locally that they better start trimming their budgets very quickly because it sounds like a tax shortfall is just around the corner.

Local businesses have cut back for over a year while government and school districts are just now seeing the light. I was really surprised to see local government officials give their employees a $50 year-end bonus across the board. I guess they don’t know unemployment is over 10 percent, the housing market is in the toilet and a good share of their tax base is being challenged.

I think the thing that makes local people unhappy the most is a lack of recognition by the government officials of local conditions and the entitlement mentality they all carry. Many jobs around the valley have been lost. Why should government people not have to suffer like the rank and file? I get the feeling many hard decisions for school districts and governments are just around the corner. No one wants to see more jobs lost but none of us are ready to pay higher taxes either.

Larry Symmes
Kalispell