The failure of the $2.00 per week user fee in yesterday's election demonstrates the voters are not in the mood for higher taxes. The margin is breathtaking:
10,566-NO
2,488 - Yes
(as reported with 69 of 72 precincts reporting per this morning's Dominion Post)
If voters are unwilling to trust their local officials with more of our money, then how about more distant legislators and Congressmen.
This outcome also bodes well for former Monongalia County Republican Delegate Cindy Frich, who was the lone Mononglia County legislator to vote against the bill empowering the user fee's proponents the ability to hold a special election and collect the fee.
In Cindy's op-ed in which she has to set the real facts on the table, you can see that at least some of the special election's proponents had apparently tried to mislead Mon County voters by implying that 55% was needed to pass instead of a simple majority. She is running to regain her house seat this year, and this is definitely a promising start to her campaign.
The truth is voters instinctively know we send enough money to Charleston, Washington, the Courthouse, and City Hall. They do not want to hear bellyaching over needing "more revenue", a phrase we are hearing all to often in Charleston this winter.
Posted by Charles (aka South Hills Bureau) at 10:59 AM H