Other ways to deal with county budget | Letter

Published 9:34 am Monday, July 30, 2012

Here we go again. Have you seen this movie before? When times are good the county spends like mad and adds useless programs that are far better handled by others in the private sector. Then, when times are bad they whine and moan about having to cut “necessary services” unless we increase the tax rate.

How about cutting out all the useless and inefficient services? For example – eliminate 99 percent of Public Works. Everything they do can be done for far less and more efficiently by the private sector. The people now working for Public Works can go to work for the local excavation contractors. Instead of all that expensive equipment and properties being supported by the tax base, the former employees and the sale of those properties would be contributing to the tax base. Then, when times are bad, only necessary maintenance and projects would be contracted.

I would also submit that the building department would be far more efficient if their services (really?) would be contracted to the private sector. And I’m sure there are other examples but privatizing just one or both or these would make a significant decrease to the county budget.

We don’t need a new tax increase. We need council members with imagination and good business sense.

Robert Waunch

Orcas