To the editor:

The recently touted sales tax scheme has caused me to wonder if the commissioners ever look at their own utility bills. This past summer, Aquila and Westar raised their customer service rates over 30 percent, and both fees, as well as consumption, are taxed by the city.

Westar is proposing a $2.25 per month increase to pay for wind farms in Kansas. This increase will again be subject to city sales tax. Are the commissioners aware or care about this newfound wealth? Is it being figured into future revenue?

I suspect the answer is no. And the answer to a vote of taxes is the same: no!

The public taxpayers have been scammed into development for industrial park land. Again, why hasn’t the $750,000 been repaid to county coffers for the purchase over 20 years ago of East Hill Business Park? Deciphera is buying a building that certainly has netted the development group profit? Give us our money back. You are getting free taxes out of the deal; how much more do you want?

I read in the Nov. 9 J-W that we should trust the city commissioners. Why? Why are the elected officials all profiting from ventures that the taxpayers are funding? Let us in on these “good” deals.

And the Chamber of Commerce and local officials wonder why the public is so distrustful of them. Would the Journal-World let the public know of these “good” deals when they come about? I need some “free” money now!

David Holroyd,

Lawrence