Editor:

A couple of years ago I mentioned government borrowing here — bonds, debt.

When politicians make a mistake, or overspend, the electorate (that’s us) has to ante up the costs. Politicians love to spend and very few governments have no debt. Debt requires interest to be paid. Elected officials have grand ideas to make our area nicer or more attractive and are in a position to implement those ideas for our good and our enjoyment. Officials feel good about the improvements that they have given us, and tell us about their accomplishments at election time.

Of course, they don’t pay for these improvements, we do. Hopefully, these things come out of the treasury, which is replenished by our taxes. When the treasury doesn’t have the money to pay, officials put us all in debt. They have various tools to accomplish this.

Fairhope used to have no debt. The Fairhope of the past lived within its means on income from utilities profits. Those profits have gone up, but not as much as spending has, so really, we are broke. Cash flow keeps us afloat, but we are sinking.

In my home, I cannot spend more than I earn, at least not for very long, and neither can a city.

Now, the politicians want to bail themselves out by raising taxes on us all. A 2 percent city sales tax is proposed, that we will pay.

The incentive to buy in Fairhope will be diminished and Henry George will be spinning in his grave. The death of the Fairhope Ideal is at hand. We have elected the wrong people.

We need elected officials who can live within their means, fiscal conservatives, who do not “tax and spend.”

Extreme budget growth is from an unwillingness to govern in a responsible manner. A city government, ideally, should be very very careful about debt and should maintain cash reserves as such without having to move money around to avoid catastrophes.

For all our sakes, please call and write your the City Council members and the mayor and voice your opinions. I too love Fairhope as it is and as it should be.

Fairhope