Dear editor:
In the near future, the new county jail will be open and, after all the outstanding invoices for construction are paid, the five-eighths cent jail construction tax will no longer be collected. It is time that the people of Garland County reauthorize the collection of this small tax, with it allocated strictly for the construction and maintenance of county roads and bridges. The tax should be structured so that all monies collected are used strictly for this purpose.
Salary increases and/or the purchase of equipment or other incidental expenditures should be handled by some other budget items. On a quarterly basis, an accounting of collections and expenditures could be published in the newspaper to assure the county residents that their tax money was being spent correctly. It should also be noted that the collection of this tax would be allowed to sunset after a specific number of years, unless the country residents were willing to authorize its continued collection.
Robert Freeman Jr.
Bonnerdale
Editorial on 12/19/2014