Is Bankruptcy on the Horizon for Your City?

Salad Days of the Public Sector are Over

I confess I'm a little worried about my own local town. The screwballs on the County Board of Supervisors think the taxpayers are a money tree. First they expanded the sewage treatment plant which was sensible at the time because of the housing boom. It looked like Woodstock would be booming along with it. When the housing market collapsed we were left with a plant ready to handle triple or more the number of homes currently in the area, while the expansion plans disappeared overnight.

Then the county took an old Safeway building purchased over a decade ago and turned it into a massive human services building. Every time I go by I shake my head. There are 40,000 people in the county. That building should house the entire county government with room to spare. But there's a huge county building right across the street -- and more town offices a few blocks away. How much governing do 40,000 people need?

Last year the county bought property to expand the school system which a study showed we didn't need. Another study showed we didn't need a regional jail even the sheriff opposed, but that didn't keep the supervisors from committing one third of the funding from our county. Did the sheriff's opposition make a whit of difference to these porkers on the board? Heck no! They think they live in Fairfax and appear committed to growing the government exponentially.

Oh, did I mention the new courthouse? It's a huge multi-million brick building with two, count em, courtrooms. We already have a historical old courthouse and additional courtrooms adjacent to the jail. When my husband was called up for jury duty he never had to go. Apparently Woodstock doesn't have many jury trials. Well, maybe we can get more folks to commit crimes so the new courthouse will be better used. Oh...and the regional jail is in Front Royal about 30 miles away (Thank God it's not in Woodstock!) so the sheriff will have the expense of going to Front Royal to pick up criminals for trial, transport them to court in Woodstock, and drive them back again. What a great use of taxpayers money and the time of the sheriffs deputies.

I suspect that next election most of the supervisors will be booted over their irresponsible and expensive decisions. I certainly hope so. Give me a housewife or a janitor with common sense who knows how to balance a budget any day over the current board.