Here we go again, I hate to sound like a broken record, but I feel that I must once again beat the drums about the lack of funds in the county's budget. With a 2.4 million dollar shortfall in revenue, the county commissioners are no closer in enforcing the 1996 Natural Resource Depletion Fee Ordinance. While the county is weathering a downward turn in the economy as other towns around the state and country are feeling, as home foreclosures continue to rise, people losing their equity and finding their selves homeless, every other house on the block seems to have a for sale sign attached to it, with the housing market continuing to spiral downward, Causing a ripple effect, less collected taxes to run county government. The high price of fuel (oil profits are at a record high) has caused a hard ship on the average American family; people buying fewer groceries and skipping needed prescriptions in order to afford a tank of gas to get to their jobs. All these problems combined have contributed to the crisis that we are facing today.

Here in Columbia County THERE IS A POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO FIX PART OF THE COUNTY'S BUDGET.
While the legal and binding Depletion Fee Ordinance is on the books waiting to be enforced on to all companies that fall under its jurisdiction, our commissioner are sitting idly by and allowing thousands upon thousands possibly millions of dollars in tax revenue's each year to go uncollected. Monies that are owed to the Taxpayers of Columbia County to slip away to the coffers of corporate America, one such company that is being allowed to renege on taxes, is USG (US GYPSUM located under the Longview Bridge.
This money if collected would go to our road department, which has already seen several cuts in their budget. While Corporate America is getting fatter and fatter our roads and bridges are literally falling to pieces.
The wear and tear on your cars from broken windshields, ruined tires and other instances such as traffic accidents some resulting in deaths, derived from horrible roads conditions. Which could be easily avoided if our elected officials would carry out the will of the people instead of ignoring the vote and allowing these corporations a virtually free ride in this county, all at the expense of you, the working person. Whether it is through the non enforcement of this fee or the results of car repairs, or even the tax breaks that the companies are receiving, and we all know that there is no free ride that some one must make up for the "free taxes" an pay the bills, and as you have probably guessed by now, IT IS YOU!
As taxpayers we should demand that the commissioners enforce this ordinance for the good of the county and for the good of its citizens, the old cry from the commissioners that the ordinance was poorly written is a poor excuse, and unacceptable excuse in my book. The ordinance is very clear in its entirety, in fact so clear that the commissioners themselves used the Depletion Fee Ordinance to try and raise the depletion fee and once again to try and omit reclamation from the ordinance (falling under fee's.) If it was so poorly written why hasn't the commissioners rewritten the ordinance and taken it back to the voters for approval or denial?
Sounds like the commissioners allegiance lies with corporations and not their constituents. Instead the commissioners are picking and choosing which rules and regulations and which person or corporation they decide will be liable for any given tax or fee.
I wonder if the commissioners would allow me or you to pick and choose on whether to pay all or part of my property taxes I bet not! So why are we allowing these people not to enforce a fee that is owed to the taxpayers of this county? I think there is something stinky going on and we the people should see to it that it does not continue to go on.
I personally will not vote for any sitting commissioner, and I will not vote for a commissioner who will not carry out the vote of the people. So beware Democrats and Republicans who are running for a commissioners seat, if you say you will not enforce the Depletion Fee as written and voter approved you will not have my vote. And I will do all I can to inform the public of your blatant disregard of their vote. By darn we live in a democracy and it is high time that it is run like one, as our founding fathers conceived.

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