Editor, The Smithfield Times:

I guess politicians are like leopards — they can’t change their spots. They continue to say one thing and do another. And how they love raising taxes!

In 2015 Messrs. McCarty and Grice, the Newport and Smithfield candidates for Isle of Wight Board of Supervisors, appeared to stand with the people against the 2040 Plan, which called for overdevelopment in the north end of the county. But since they were elected, they have approved all but one new or expanded development in the Newport District. When built, currently approved developments will triple (yes, triple) the population of the Newport District.

In their 2019 reelection campaign, these two supervisors boasted they had not raised taxes in their first term, and were reelected. But in the first meeting of the 2020 session, they and the rest of the BOS began discussing when and how much to increase real estate taxes. Supervisors complained that the state does not allow counties to levy restaurant taxes. Will they ask legislators to change that law? Now we read that the state is allowing a “feel good” plastic bag tax. The BOS is already discussing how to spend that money (“Plastic bag tax ahead for IW?” Feb. 10). True, plastic bags can be a problem for farmers, but another tax is not the solution.

Our supervisors seem to see county residents as a source of unlimited funds. In fact, at the reelection forum, Mr. Grice said it’s easier to increase taxes than to decrease spending. But our funds are limited. We must live within our means and the BOS must do the same. And they must take off their leopard skins and act like honest, responsible humans.

 

Richard Gillerlain 

Carrollton