Dear Editor,
I am 83, retired now and living on social security and savings. Like you, I pay my taxes and do not enjoy increasing my tax bill. My health is generally good for my age, but I do visit the clinic and hospital more than I used to. I voted at the last election for the tax increase for the hospital district. I am convinced that the services and benefits received for these tax dollars significantly improve my quality of life and its longevity.
Over the years I have written in these pages about the decline of some communities and the reasons for their reduced circumstances. Most often a principal cause is voter apathy and lack of civic support. A town goes from a plum, into a prune, and ends up a raisin. There is currently floated a movement here in town to roll back the voter-supported tax for the hospital district. If the roll back succeeds, it would be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to Fairfield. We have very good medical care with the clinic and hospital facilities, excellent physicians, nurses, administration, and staff. These benefits have a cost like anything else that is valuable and needed. They are well worth keeping.
If we roll back the approved tax rate, we’ll be penny-wise and pound poor; if the medical center cannot break even, it will close. No one wishes for that. If you like having quality health care right here locally, vote NO to the roll back – if not for our community, do it for your family.
God bless America!
El Sellers
Fairfield, Texas
