Most taxpayers who approve an increase in taxes do so fully expecting their elected officials to exercise prudence in the expenditures of those monies. Most attention to government waste of taxpayers' money is focused at the federal level, then the state level, then the larger municipalities, but rarely is there any focus on government waste at the village level.

A few years ago, the citizens of Richmond County, by majority vote, approved the addition of a special-purpose local option sales tax. Our fellow citizens did so with the conviction that these monies would be spent prudently for needed capital improvements. Rarely do most of the citizens track, or even know, how these monies are being spent.

The town of Blythe -- population 718, and a total area of 2.84 square miles (smaller than a medium-sized subdivision) -- has been approved for a potential outlay of more than $900,000 in SPLOST monies. The mayor of Blythe and a majority of Blythe City Council members (There was one dissenting vote.) recently voted to spend at least $120,000 (13 percent of the SPLOST monies tentatively slated for Blythe) for three new fully equipped police cruisers. The village of Blythe already has four fully operable police cruisers with only three part-time policemen (including the chief) to patrol 2.84 square miles.

The most oppressive taxation in any society is taxation such as sales taxes that are disproportionately burdensome to those citizens at the poverty level. It is my hope that future expenditures of such monies return a benefit to those citizens who most need help.

Jerry E. Cole, Blythe