To the editor:

Recently I attended a Clinton chamber meeting where commissioner Helen Price Johnson explained the commissioners’ bleak options should the proposed 16 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation property tax increase fail. The presentation was very well done, clearly spelling out the likely cuts.

There have already been extensive and deep cuts that have been well-publicized.

I came away with the impression further cuts will put public safety and valuable support services in real jeopardy. I was surprised to see that our current 59 cents per $1,000 for county services is at the BOTTOM statewide and that even with a 16-cent increase, we will still be near the bottom.

The county current expense portion of our property tax bill is only about 7½ percent of the total property tax, and it would be going up 16 cents, which is only a 2.2-percent increase in one’s total property tax bill.

(You can go to your current tax statement and find out what makes up the rest of the percentages.)

I would encourage any group, formal or otherwise, to ask one of the commissioners to give a presentation so folks can make their own informed decision. The vote on Proposition I is coming up quickly, and all ballots must be returned by Aug. 17.

Dave Anderson

Clinton