Dear Editor: How excited I was to hear that recycling is coming to Bryan County in the March 12 edition of the Bryan County News. Excited until I read the article and realized I would be forced to pay for recycling whether I wanted to participate or not. How lovely. Once again, our local government has no compunction about applying extra taxes willy-nilly.
My understanding of recycling was that it would be available to those who wanted to participate, not forced on all residents. To find that I will be assessed additional taxes to do something I don’t really care about doing irks me immensely. For those who say, “It’s just a small amount,” I say, “That’s what government always says when they want to increase taxes.” It’s $35 this year; what about next year and the year after next?
Do politicians think we are made of money? They must, since I also read in the same BCN issue how the “county rakes in record $5M from SPLOST.” I always vote against SPLOST because they make it sound like it’s A.) temporary; and B.) just a small amount – neither of which is true.
Now it’s another $35. I resent our elected officials for thinking they can tax us all day long and through the night as well. I particularly resent being forced into it.
To top all this off, several weeks ago there was an article in the BC News about how property taxes might be raised this year to make up budget shortfalls since property values have dropped so much. Really? Are you kidding me? How about the government figuring out how to make do with less like all the rest of us have had to do? We have a family budget, and if the income doesn’t meet our expenses, we cut our expenses. This is apparently a novel idea to our elected officials, so perhaps I should bring my first-grader to the next commission meeting and she could explain it to our representatives.
The old cry of “No taxation without representation!” no longer fits. We have representation – it just is grossly inadequate when it comes to the needs of their constituents. How about “No taxation without fiscally intelligent representation!”
On a positive note, in the same issue there was a great article about the Georgia National Guard teaching Afghan farmers a better way to make a living than growing poppies for opium. Very uplifting and great news!

Betsy DeBry
Richmond Hill