Arthur Godfrey used to say that he was proud to pay taxes, but that he could be just as proud for half the money. No one likes tax increases. It has been said that there are two kinds of people who generally complain about tax increases: men and women. All joking aside, if you perceive a tax increase as a failure on the part of government, then the County has been set up to fail. The reason is that property tax is the mainstay of revenue for county government--but property tax is not indexed for inflation. Your house may double in value over a period of time, but the amount of property tax that you pay to the County will not increase unless the county raises your taxes.

As the state gets more pressure to pump money into education, it is tempted to take funding away from county services. Most people forget that counties are responsible for maintaining aging services, alcohol and drug abuse services, animal services, economic development, engineering services for roads, emergency services such as paramedics, flood control, health services, jails, library, parks and recreation, planning and zoning, prosecution, records, sanitation, search and rescue, sheriff's department, snow plowing, and solid waste disposal.

Corrections has become an increasingly important county issue with a significant impact on communities as new laws requiring stiffer penalties are imposed. The voters recently approved a bond to expand the jail, and now the County is left with the expense of trying to staff the facility.

I believe that the public outcry against property taxes four years ago resulted not only from the sheer magnitude of the percentage of proposed increase, but also from the county's failure to educate people. The Davis School Board did an excellent job this year educating the voters and as a result, its proposed bond passed by an overwhelming majority.

The top spending priorities for the County should be on those "core" governmental functions that cannot be provided by the private sector. Fixing corroding drains that are causing sink holes is certainly one of those core functions. People will be more likely to support fixing our flood control infrastructure than building a brand new senior center.

Although I have not had the opportunity to review any particular proposal for a property tax increase next year, I will state this: Before raising our property taxes again, the County needs to be able to look the voters in the eye and explain why the additional revenue is absolutely necessary.

The County must show the public that it has tightened its proverbial belt by cutting back on non-essential programs and salaries. If the County can convince the voters that it has reasonably done everything in its power to "live within its means" and still cannot make ends meet, I believe the voters will support the County's efforts to appropriately fund its essential programs.