LETTER: Paper fails to report news

As Mayor of Dumfries, I was very disappointed to learn on Oct. 29 that your newspaper will not be reporting on our Oct. 20 Town Council meeting. At this meeting, the council discussed ways to lower the
town’s current real estate tax rate of $.3533 per $100 assessed value. While it might not be newsworthy enough to you, it is of significant importance to all Dumfries citizens and especially businesses.

I’m at a greater loss, however, to understand why a News & Messenger reporter would be assigned to attend our meeting and then report nothing at all about the issues discussed. After all, there were 19
recommendations that I had personally suggested to lower the tax rate. If certain of my recommendations had been accepted, the real estate rate would have eventually dropped from $.3533 to as low as
$.21 per $100 assessed value. 

My motion to lower the tax rate to $.30 per $100 assessed value for the current fiscal year was defeated by a vote of 2-5.  It’s sad that this lower rate wasn’t approved because all the council would have
had to do was eliminate only $150,000 in previously approved expenditures out of a $4 million annual budget. 

FRED E. YOHEY, Jr.

Mayor of Dumfries