By Billy McCullers
Lake Okeechobee News reader
Election Day. Amendment 3. Here we are.
For five days I’ve said plenty, so I’ll spare you another sermon.
Amendment 3 has exposed something I think is long overdue for a reckoning. Somewhere along the way, local government got comfortable believing that every dollar it manages to collect is a dollar it’s entitled to spend.
And the minute taxpayers start talking about keeping more of their own money, we’re treated to the usual parade of threatened services, financial doom and warnings about what government might have to do without.
Funny. Nobody seems nearly as concerned about what the taxpayer has been doing without.
I don’t begrudge a dime spent responsibly serving the public. But I reject the idea that a growing tax base should automatically mean a growing government. And I certainly reject the notion that essential services should be used as bargaining chips whenever taxpayers demand some restraint.
Amendment 3 puts some very real questions about property taxes and government spending before Florida voters today. There are consequences worth understanding on both sides.
But regardless of the outcome, here’s something every elected official ought to understand.
We aren’t the funding source for your ambitions. You’re the hired help for ours.
Today the people have their say.
Tomorrow, government still owes them an accounting.
