If the Town needs more money, residential fees are not the way to go. They can’t just force people to pay a fee. You pay a fee to do something you choose to do.

One way to generate revenue would be to charge the Chamber of Commerce a fee of $50 a curb foot for the use of the streets for the art fairs. Currently, the Chamber of Commerce rents the streets to artists and pockets the cash. That would be something north of a million dollars a year that could be going to the town. If necessary, why not do the art fairs as a volunteer community service project with the town getting the revenue?

The town thinks they are raking in big bucks in sales tax from the art fairs, but who knows? These are artists. They produce the product, sell it and keep the records. They can say anything. My hunch is that a lot of sales don’t even show up as revenue, let alone produce any sales tax.

The Town Council also needs to stop spending tax money in ways they wouldn’t spend their own. No one on the council would liquidate their savings to buy a home rather than get a low interest rate mortgage. The new fire station should have been bonded. They also wouldn’t have the Fountain Park lights at their house, especially not at $2,500 each. Nor would they pay someone for a proposal for, say, a lagoon, at their house.

The problem is that government isn’t as good at handling your money as you are. Also, be careful about driving shoppers out of town with a higher sales tax. Most people drive past a lot of Valley businesses every week.