What Are We Doing?

Measure Waste (September 11, 2016)

It galls me that the Town of Apple Valley thinks it can use taxpayer money to sponsor an initiative that restates existing law. Measure W is Measure Waste!

The people of the Town of Apple Valley want the right to vote on debt.

Concerned voters, nearly 4,000 of them, not corporations, signed the petition to put Measure V on the ballot.

Measure V respects the voter. That is why Chuck and Pat Hanson sponsored Measure V. Measure V is Measure Vote! Why is it necessary? The Town has been deficit spending and depleting reserves for years. Now it wants free rein to incur debt, subject only to existing law that already requires a public hearing, a financial analysis, and an independent audit. You get 10-day notice to decide (or try to halt) expenditures of millions of dollars. Of course, the taxpayers will pay for the indebtedness; it comes on our monthly bill! So who is the Town kidding?

Our forefathers thoughtfully built a policy of checks and balances in government. This includes allowing affected voters the right to propose laws to curtail wasteful spending by elected officials. The town has lost touch with all but its favorite residents.

It is time to change that! We need to live within our means, not on credit.

We need Measure V.

— Diana J. Carloni, Apple Valley

Source: Daily Press