Garnett Nails It: Council is Overspending

Yet another City Council basher, and this time on an issue that Garnett is not quite known for. Garnett the anti-tax zealot, eh?

The questions he put forward in his op-ed [“Will wasteful ways be legacy of this Fredericksburg City Council?” Aug. 8] concerning “Siltgate” and “Attorneygate” need to be answered. His prediction about the capital-outlay budget is already becoming a reality. The council is currently in the process of approving $13,886,000 for the 2004 budget. That’s nearly triple what any council has ever approved before.

I have lived in this city for a long time, and I have never seen such a mess. It is obvious that Richard Garnett’s studied approach to spending our taxpayer dollars is desperately needed.

First question, what mess? These are capital improvements that have been neglected (and some of them approved by the former Council of which Garnett was a member). Second question, how is spending $7.2 million on Cowan Boulevard an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars (yet another item that Garnett approved of while on City Council).

Its not a question of dollars it seems, but rather priority. When Garnett spends the money on Celebrate Virginia, that’s acceptable use of taxpayers dollars. But when this City Council spends the money on her citizens, it’s magically becomes waste.

Keep your eyes open folks. The Silver Companies may think that the citizens of Fredericksburg are mere sheep, but just a short overview of the background and the facts usually reveal the rhetoric for what it is. If Garnett were truly anti-tax, he would demand that the money be returned to the taxpayers of Fredericksburg, and not spent on subsidizing commercial development.