Time for borough residents to stand up against politicians

Ouch. The "conservative" borough politicians just stuck the knife in a little deeper. They threw us a bone with a small increase in residential exemption, immediately erasing any tax relief with a whopping 15 percent increase in assessments. Very clever. I was heartened to hear Mayor Bagley endorse a $150,000 cap on seniors' exemptions. I prefer a cap at $50,000 (more than twice what us legitimate year-round citizens get) with an arbitration board empowered to increase that cap to protect the truly needy. The other wealthy seniors can and should pay their fair share.

Those that detest the current state of affairs can avoid future anarchy by practicing civil disobedience now. Refuse the assessors access to your property. Advertise and sell your property yourself, boycotting the greedy realtors. Attend Assembly meetings and protest every new hire until the government workers curtail their selfish, uncompromising demands for ever greater compensation. Fight every new budget increase until they cut the fat. Vote down every school bond until the teachers can prove their worth and the administrators slash their own budget. Although I suggest you refrain from spitting on her Gucci loafers, get in tax advocate assemblywoman Mildred Martin's face at the post office and store and express your outrage. Hopefully, she'll sleep a little less secure in her quarter-million-dollar, tax-exempt home. She and the other politicians need to realize that providing services does not include driving us to bankruptcy court.

Grant Lane, Homer