To the editor:

The article this past week about a new fire station costing $4 million raises the same unanswered questions that follow with the school bond proposal. Those questions, for starters, are:

• Do any of the elected officials realize that the money to finance these projects comes from the taxpayers?
• Do any of the elected commissioners and school board members realize or care that these projects, after they are built, are not long-lasting?
• Are there any taxpayers in Lawrence and Douglas County that have any financial good sense or is most everyone, as I suspect, financially illiterate, if you will?

Everyone in town should look at the building that Capitol Concrete built north of town. I highly doubt that cost $4 million. After all, what is needed to house the fire trucks? A building, a glorified garage, that is what. I realize the firemen need a place to sleep and eat in, but one would think that $1 million would build a pretty fancy house next to the fire station, and $1 million for the station is plenty. Something is amiss here. The commissioners should step back and realize how ridiculous they and the architects look with their fancy, expensive proposals. After all, the land is free and the fire department pays no property taxes.

This fire station cost is completely out of line and, like the school bond proposal, shows no respect for those who foot the bill.

David Holroyd,

Lawrence