Supporting levyis a citizen duty

Paying taxes to supportpublic safety services is acivic responsibility. It is myway of contributing to acivil society.

The self-proclaimed “noproperty tax increase” cadreignores the revenue neutralside of the public safetylevy. County taxes are re-placing decades of federaltax-based subsidies. Theseanti-levy voices ask me toreject the public safety op-erating levy but provide noreplacement solution forthe lost $2,400,000 federalsubsidy.

I will vote “yes” because“no” means more years ofdiminished public safetyservices needed in urbanPolk County — no nar-cotics team, decreasingcrime prosecution and anunderstaffed jail.

E.M. EasterlyWest Salem

Some can’t affordmore property tax

It makes no differencewhether the public safetytax levy is needed or not,many Polk County residentshave no excess money topay this new tax. It is sim-ple. Vote “no.”

Reginald WienszDallas

Don’t comparecounty salaries

Do not let the pay of offi-cials in larger counties dic-tate what our officialsshould be paid.

Polk County is the poor-est and one of the smallestcounties in the state. Themoney would be betterspent for the Polk CountySheriff’s Department.

Sandra JamesDallas

Elected officialscan’t be trusted

We need more deputieson patrol and more staff inthe DA’s office. Why isn’t thejail staffed with lower paidcorrections officers? Whynot use contract labor forthe DA’s office?

Do you, as taxpayers,trust our elected officials tonot spend money from thespecial levy for other proj-ects since it will be placedin the general fund? I don’t!

In five years, the countywill want another speciallevy. Our elected officialsshould think outside thebox to find less expensiveways to provide the servicesneeded. Now they want payraises?

Vote no on measure 27-117.

Lloyd CollinsDallas

Levy needed tokeep county safe

When a police officer ar-rests someone in Dallas, In-dependence, Monmouth orWest Salem, that person isbooked into the county jail,investigated and charged bythe county district attorneyand prosecuted in the coun-ty circuit court.

If convicted, the individ-ual is jailed in the countyjail, when paroled, super-vised by the county correc-tions personnel.

All Polk County residentsreceive these safety serviceswhether city residents orrural residents.

Supporting the countyPublic Safety Levy ensuresviability of all our safety andsecurity services for our cityand county residents alike.Vote yes for public safety.

James WilliamsDallas

Property shouldnot be taxed at all

Our home is our security.No taxes should be leviedon property.

I liked the idea of a rapidresponse, on-call deputy forrural areas and limitingsheriff patrols to rural areas,letting city police handle is-sues of any kind in the citylimits.

Higher taxes on rentalproperty could cause a rentincrease.

Annette BlairRickreall

Vote no, send astrong message

Seriously? The Polk Coun-ty Commissioners did notget the message the first

time? We do not want another

tax. We are tired of constantrequests for new bonds, feesand taxes. We already paytoo much.

The Polk County publicsafety tax is just anotherlayer on top of other layersof taxes. At some point theweight of all these taxes isgoing to cause a public out-cry.

We have an opportunityto defeat a tax increase withour votes. Please voteagainst this tax levy andsend a strong message.

Faye FreiDallas

Voting yes is theright thing to do

In Dallas we enjoy a re-markable community, wide-ly known for its peace, tran-quility, sense of comfort andsafety.

In this regard, we greatlybenefit from the many as-pects of the public safetysystem operated by PolkCounty. In mid-February,the Dallas City Council, afterthorough briefings, voted invigorous support of the PolkCounty Public Safety Levy,Measure 27-117. We believethis measure is the onlypractical means to maintainthese vital services that areso important to us all. Joinus in voting “yes” for the levy.It is good public policy andthe right thing to do.

Brian DaltonMayor, city of Dallas

County taxes outof control, vote no

It is time for voters to puttheir foot down. Taxes havegrown out of control in PolkCounty. We do not want an-other increase this year afterthe increase last year. Weneed to slam our feet downtogether and soundly defeat

the public safety tax beingproposed by the countycommissioners and thecounty administrator. Onlythen will they finally get themessage. It is absurd tocontinue the heavy tax bur-den imposed on propertyowners, especially in aneconomically depressedcounty. Vote to defeat thetax levy.

Charlie LandesIndependence

Consider yoursafety and vote yes

I am writing this in sup-port of the safety levy forPolk County. I realize, in ad-dition to needing more pa-trolmen, we are affected byhigher insurance rates andno response to 911 callsduring the hours when pa-trols are not on duty. Thislast reason brings to mymind a quote of the worldchampion knockout artistMike Tyson, “Everyone has aplan until they are hit.” I amalso thinking that no onewants a cop until they needone. Please think aboutyour own safety and vote formeasure 27-117.

Don GroveDallas

Levy needed to fixsafety system

The Polk County publicsafety system is broken andyou have the opportunity tochange that. The current“funding fix” by the federalgovernment will be used tooffset the cost of the publicsafety levy to our taxpayers— you have my word onthat. However, this fundingwill last only two years and,if more tax revenue is notgenerated, we will not beable to provide basic servic-es at an acceptable rate. Iurge you to vote “yes” onthe upcoming levy. It is a

very small price to pay forthe safety of your lovedones.

Jennifer WheelerIndependence

Public safety levy agood investment

Vote yes on ballot meas-ure 27-117 and vote by mailbefore May 19.

We really need to investin peace of mind and secu-rity with response to 911calls, and it makes sense toinvest in personal protec-tion and protection of ourproperty.

An investment in publicsafety maintains propertyvalues and lowers insurancerates. It also attracts newbusinesses and residents,which adds to the tax baseand improves the localeconomy. Yes, there will be asmall increase in propertytaxes, but the return on thatinvestment is huge. Shouldthe levy fail — there couldbe tremendous costs.

Gene HenshawDallas

Make more cutsbefore taxing

Local taxes and fees keepmoving up. Federal taxesand state taxes increaseeach year.

The economy is strug-gling in Polk County, fore-closures and businessesclosing. Now we are beingasked to vote to increaseour own property taxes withthe safety tax levy. Everyonewants to be safe! But weneed our government, on alllevels, to be willing to maketough decisions, prioritizesafety spending, cut “wishlist” programs first. It isn’tjust “a cup of coffee a day,”it’s an 800-pound gorilla. In-sist on financially responsi-ble government, vote no onthe safety tax increase.

Rachel DaberkowIndependence

Time to pay itforward with levy

I spent 40-plus yearsserving the residents of Dal-las and Polk County as anEMT/paramedic firefighter.Many times during thatservice, Polk Countydeputies made the differ-ence on whether my part-ner and I returned safely toour family. Sending ouremergency service person-nel out to help members ofour community withoutdeputy assistance is selfishand a crime. Vehicle acci-dents, domestic issues, andhealth emergencies requireadditional assistance frompublic safety officers.Money is tight but it’s time

to “pay it forward,” supportthe public safety levy.

Retired Fire Chief, DallasFire & SW Polk Co.

Bill HahnDallas

24-hour patrolcoverage needed

Polk County resourceshave been severely impact-ed due to federal timberrevenue reductions. The pri-mary issue is restoring 24-hour county police patrol.Imagine yourself or familyat 3 a.m. when someone isbreaking into your home.You call 911 and are toldthat no Polk County officersare available to respond.This could be deadly! Hav-ing police patrol only fromnoon to 10 p.m. is not ac-ceptable. By supporting thislevy, 22 positions will be re-stored to increase police pa-trol, support the jail, sup-port the district attorney’soffice, and increase deten-tion beds for juvenile of-fenders.

Eileen BrownWest Salem

Funding for publicsafety has fallen

The 2007 budget author-ized 19 deputies to patroland 22 in the jail. The 2014budget authorized sixdeputies to patrol and 20 inthe jail. Jail population in1990 was about 40, todayabout 120. County popula-tion has increased, so hasthe criminal activity. Crimi-nals in the county conductthose same activities in thecities. 1990 timber revenuewas about 2.4 million peryear and today is 20 percentof that.

The sheriff augments au-thorized personnel withmore than 120 unpaid vol-unteers. Need for the lawenforcement levy is becauseof low revenue, not mis-spending.

Randy SittonDallas

Polk County Itemizer-Observer • April 29, 2015 4AVoicesPolk County

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

ON THE BALLOT

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Itemizer-Observer staff reportPOLK COUNTY — Ballots for

the May 19 Special DistrictElection will be mailed out onThursday. Ballots are due by 8p.m. on May 19.

Here’s what you can expectto see when you receive yourballot:

Ash Creek Water ControlDistrict: Position 4, Dan Farn-worth. No candidate filed forPosition 1, Position 2, Position6 or Position 8, all four-year

terms.Buell Red Prairie Water

District: Position 4, four years,Mark A. Millikan; Position 5,four years, Wendell Lux; Posi-tion 2, two years, no candi-date filed.

Central School District 13J:Position 1, four years, Steven F.Moser; Position 2, two years, nocandidate filed; Position 3, fouryears, Seven A. Love; Position 5,four years, Kathy Zehner; Posi-tion 7, four years, no candidate

filed.Dallas Cemetery District:

Position 3, four years, John Bar-bour; Position 5, four years,Rod Watson.

Dallas School District No.2: Position 2, four years, MattPosey; Position 5, four years,Michael Bollman.

Falls City School DistrictNo. 57: Position 2, four years,Bob Young; Position 4, fouryears, Jami L. Kidd.

Fir Crest Cemetery District:

One position, four years,Christy L. Riddell.

Hilltop Cemetery District:One position, four years, MaryA. McDaniel.

Pedee Cemetery District:Position 3, four years, Tom K.Griffith.

Perrydale School DistrictNo. 21: Position 1, four years,John W. Cruickshank Jr.; Posi-tion 4, four years, Anna M.Scharf.

Polk County Fire District

No. 1: Position 1, four years,Tom N. Snair; Position 4, fouryears, Joe Franko; Position 5,four years, Mike Lippsmeyer.

Rock Creek Water District:Three positions, each four-year terms, Roy Steele, Stan M.Mills, Leonard Fischer.

Salt Creek Cemetery Dis-trict: One position, four years,Marvin A. Morey.

Southwest Rural Fire Pro-tection District: Position 2,four years, Frank W. Pender Jr.;

Position 4, four years, Robert T.Davis.

Spring Valley Rural FireProtection District: Position2, four years, no candidatefiled; Position 3, four years,Virginia L. Nelke Roberg; Posi-tion 4, four years, Anne M. Cu-pich.

Measure 27-117: PolkCounty Public Safety Local Op-tion Tax Authorization.

YesNo

Want to write?Letters to the editor are

limited to 300 words.Longer letters will be edit-ed. Election-related lettersof all types are limited to100 words. Writers are lim-ited to one election-relat-ed letter per election sea-son. Election letters fromwriters outside of PolkCounty are not accepted.

Each writer is restrictedto one letter per 30-dayperiod. The deadline forletters to the editor is 10a.m. Monday.

Reach us at: Email:ionews@polkio.com.

Office: 147 SE Court St.,Dallas.