A Matter of Perspective

“If you are the last one out of Todd County, could you remember to turn the light off when you leave?”

The other day during a break in the Todd County Board of Commissioner’s meeting, Commissioner Randy Neumann and I were talking about the extreme raises in property values which is destined to create higher taxes which in turn could lead to citizens leaving the area simply because they can’t afford to live here anymore.

The sentence at the beginning of this editorial was uttered by Randy at the end of our conversation.

Taxes are becoming a joke! Unfortunately the joke is on us, the taxpayers.

Taxes are a necessary evil. An evil that, in my humble opinion, has gotten out of hand!

We get taxed for this and that and everything in between. The people who are doing their best to eke out a living are struggling the hardest to make it and the taxes just keep on rising.

This year’s property tax statements have everyone I know in an uproar and rightfully so.

The sad part is, we need the things for which we are being taxed, so we really don’t have a choice. If we want good roads, we have to pay for them. If we want the best schools, we have to pay to have them.

Still, it is hard to justify the higher taxing for those of us who decide to stay in the county and not sell our property. Just because my neighbor sells his land at $8500 an acre does not mean that I should be taxed on my land at that rate!

People are scared that they will not be able to pay their hefty increases in taxes because of the rising land values that they have little to do with.

Special assessments and rising costs to do everything is leaving our populace with a bitter taste in their mouths. How can we survive?

As Commissioner Neumann said, make sure to turn the light off if you’re the last one out of the county.

I sure hope it doesn’t come to that. I hear there is a waiting list to move into Canada, so...