Government has a responsibility to deliver necessary services to its citizens, and a responsibility to be good financial stewards. It spends our money to fulfill its responsibilities and deliver those services.

Just to be clear, I am not against all taxes, but I do expect any governmental entity, or anyone else wanting my money, to provide me with a convincing reason for that want.

The town wants voter approval of $7 million dollars in a new primary property tax. I have spent many hours researching documents on the town website. I have read material from and listened to several supporters of the tax. I have spoken to and heard the many concerns of people opposed to the tax. I have heard the presentation by Town Manager Grady Miller and Finance Director Craig Rudolphy. Based upon all of this information, I can only come to the conclusion that a $7 million tax is too big!

The town website has the current fiscal year's budget, including a five-year projection. It shows a total five-year projected shortfall of about $4.2 million, for the entire next five years. Yet, the request is for $7 million each year.

The town’s property tax presentation provides a different, 10-year projection of a $64 million shortfall, or $6.4 million per year (rounded up to $7 million!). The year-to-year percentage increases are not shown, but I calculated them and found that projected revenues barely increase, but projected expenditures have consistently larger increases. With that kind of math, it’s easy to generate a larger shortfall.

Ask yourself, aren’t shorter projections usually more accurate? The tax levy can increase by 2 percent per year, so $7 million is just the starting point. The tax would negatively impact homeowners with fixed incomes and young families with lower incomes. Vote no.