Dutch Uncle Explanation

In this week’s Country Courier we had a letter from one of the Broadband committee who apparently is new to the area and has no understanding as to why he is experiencing some resistance to handing over $225,000 of tax dollars to what some intelligent people think is a waste of money. Given that this gentleman is new to the area I will take the patient Dutch uncle approach and give him some learnin, as they say.

This fella might not be aware of the rather sordid history of how over and over local tax payers ( at least those of us who don’t have the coveted exemptions) have been royally cheated. One can look back at a water pumping station that tax payers got tagged with completing because of either a flawed ,  inept or corrupt  ( take your pick )planning process that left the responsible parties off the hook and stuck the citizens with the cost.  Maybe the poor lad isn’t aware of the bad bank loan made to a certain failed rescue squad that then required a “ special” supplemental appropriations in the hundreds of thousands  that was subsequently then made to bail out a private transaction that the bank should have had to eat….but our generous board of supervisors came to the rescue and doled out the dough.

Perhaps the poor fella never heard of the squandering of millions on the water/sewage issue that took years to resolve while local taxpayers continued to pick up the tab. He might not be aware of the $90,000 a week that KW Schools spend , above and beyond what another rural County school system spends with 2 more schools and around 300 more students . If his stay here has been of such short duration he also hasn’t learned yet what those of us who have been here a long time know—-that King William County has one of the highest real estate tax rates ( per hundred) even with the paltry proposal of a .02 reduction. Perhaps when he gets his first real estate tax bill he might then change his tune, as Grandma used to say.

Until then nephew, cry in your beer. The folks who have watched the handing out of millions of dollars on one bad deal after another just might not go so easy this time.  BULLYING ?  No , the average guy or gal in King William is just tired of being ripped off on these insider  wasteful scams that ultimately end up on homeowners tab.

Bob Shannon  King William

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