Dear Editor: Thank you for your editorial Re: "Our Thoughts ... The County Budget," which appeared in the 12/4/10 edition of the Rockdale News. Your editorial captured, and stated in very direct and plain language, the thoughts and opinions which have been on the minds of the taxpayers in Rockdale. You were right on target. Richard Oden and Oz Nesbit voted for (and passed) a 1.6 percent increase in the county budget, despite the more rational "no" vote of JaNice Van Ness. As you stated, "there is no excuse in these economic times to raise the budget" while the taxpayers of this county are struggling to survive, many of whom have lost their jobs due to this economic crisis. We expect our commissioners to do their jobs ... do what we taxpayers have been forced to do with our own household budgets. This means: prioritize! Fund what's most important, and cut out what is not. Obviously, we don't want you to cut essential services such as police and fire protection, but we do expect you to reduce funding allocations for the non-essentials, like recreational budgets, tennis courts, new hires, salary increases for bureaucrats, and the like.

If you can't do your jobs, then it's clearly time to step down and make room for someone who can.