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Why do so many politicians resort to sob stories and scare tactics when they are forced to get the government's financial house in order? Tom Oliver's antics are no different from the big government apologists in Congress; he simply raises the specter of slower emergency response and shuttered libraries instead of threatening Medicare cuts and the loss of cowboy poetry festivals.
The fact that Hall County has a chairman who thinks Little League and matching 401(k) contributions are core government functions should tell you all you need to know: Local government is bloated and inefficient. How that happened and why the county let expenses expand during the housing boom without preparing for a downturn is a good question for Oliver and his fellow commissioners.
But the answer isn't dumping poor decisions at the taxpayers' doorsteps in the form of a rate hike.
Rob Harris
Gainesville