To the editor:

Back on Jan. 23, David Burke, a Kansas native who now is an arts and entertainment writer for the Quad City Times in Iowa, wrote an article titled “Taking away funding for the arts hurts us all.” The article was about the Kansas Arts Commission budget costing taxpayers about 45 cents per person based on a $575,000 budget. He cited this figure from artbistro.monster.com.

Gov. Brownback and the Republicans are now enforcing a $42 million reduction in SRS funding and closing the Lawrence SRS offices. Doing quick “fuzzy” math, I come up with the cost of keeping current SRS services at $32.87 annually per Kansan. This breaks down to 63 cents per week to help those less fortunate get essential social services.

Gov. Brownback, what kind of cheapskate do you think I am? That’s less than I pay for a can of soda out of my company’s vending machine. Do the right thing for our most vulnerable citizens, not just in Lawrence, but in all the other cities involved. Quit cutting taxes and raise them. Social services are not a luxury; they are a necessity.