Post-election comments

To the Editor,

It has been a week now since the election for the new pool....feelings are still raging....

And I personally am appalled at the low voter turnout.  

I had heard often as an argument against the pool is that Fort Scott needs better paying jobs and not improvement in the amenities in town. Also said was that our property taxes would go up and that someone is trying to scam us.

This is a response to some of those arguments.

First of all, if one does not see that improving the amenities in a town and voting for improvements and progress leads to higher paying jobs coming to town, they need some education.

Number two -- while you are getting education, learn the difference between sales tax and property tax. They are two different things entirely.

Along with this, for those people who argue that there are too many poor people in Fort Scott to pay for a pool -- do they wonder why?

Do your homework regarding both types of taxes. The more money one makes, the more they spend, so they pay more sales tax than the poor. We even collect sales tax from non-citizens who would spend money here. The more they spend means the poorest people in town would reap the same rewards of Fort Scott improvements while paying the least taxes. The same goes for property taxes. If you are fortunate enough to own a home, the reduction of property taxes means the town is in decline and our homes are losing money. The poorest of us don't even have property tax. Is that what we all want to strive for?

However, none of this matters, because the pool had nothing whatsoever to do with property taxes and never did.

But some people do not get it and will never understand the difference. Property taxes are determined by Real Estate sales and have nothing whatsoever to do with our parks and amenities.

Number three -- something that was pointed out in a letter to the editor I read is that there was much suspicion that somehow building a new pool was a sort of "scam." I, as the person wrote that letter did, believe that those that feel this way must be involved in some underhanded dealings of their own to ever consider progress and improvement to be such a thing.

And lastly, to go along with the negative attitudes displayed by the poor election results, I propose we close Gunn Park and the community center. We could subdivide the park and sell the lots to lower our taxes. They certainly cost us money, and therefore we should not have to pay for anyone else's enjoyment of them.

Of course, this is sarcasm as it turns out recreation does a lot more than giving us something healthy to do with our time (as well as attracting new tax-paying citizens). Physical fitness is good for morale and improves our IQ's, which leads to higher self esteem and more community pride.

So in conclusion, I would encourage people who do not know the connection between progress and attracting new businesses to town to take a class in Economics 101. And for the people who do not understand the difference between sales tax and property tax to take some finance and real estate classes. 

For those desiring higher paying jobs: First, go to college and then leave Fort Scott because we vote against progress here. 

Barbara Doherty Woodward

Fort Scott