To the editor:
Rising property taxes and urban sprawl go together. Whenever the RULING MINORITY is questioned on the matter the answer will likely be "we need to expand our tax base as this will provide relief." We have been expanding the tax base for 12 years, and our property taxes also have been expanding for 12 years.
Expanding the tax base by way of urban sprawl will only further propel our personal property taxes up up up. Urban sprawl costs a lot of money as it requires more of just about everything to keep it running such as trash trucks (dump fees), fire trucks, police officers, street repairs, water and sewer lines with repairs, poorly built trafficways with frequent repairs, police cars w/maintenance, more staff, more work put out to contractors, consultants fees and a few other items which cannot be thought of at the moment.
How can taxes be cut when the city continues to grow using the urban sprawl theory? There are some city treasures that have gone broke as a result of urban sprawl. Growth will continue. However there must be another way; certainly the status quo is not the answer. Think about this when you vote.
Richard Heckler,
Lawrence
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