Please vote No on the Fire District Measure

Editor,

This Carbon County Fire District will affect all voters in Carbon County. Why then are only rural voters able to vote on it?

In the America I was raised in, all voters were allowed one vote each on measures that effect tax dollars to fund welfare and safety. Voting should not be skewed by allowing only voters who may support a measure the right to vote. All effected voters should have that right!

I strongly support our fire departments, and want them sufficiently funded and equipped to meet their needs for all our safety. However I question the need to increase the annual budget from $300,000 to $1,700,000. This is almost a 600% increase.

I have been told that if the 1.7mil. is more than needed, they will return what is left over to the tax payers. Have you ever heard of a bureaucrat that wouldn’t somehow spend all the moneys allocated?

In the five years will it be necessary to increase the 1.7mil. to be 3.4mil?

I don’t think we need beautiful firehouses like we see on the Snowy Range road in Laramie. Beautiful firehouses do not put out fires.

If this measure passes in all likelihood we will lose many of our experienced volunteer firemen because of lack of time for new training or the inability to pass new physical test. These volunteers could still run fore trucks or run radios. We can’t afford to lose their knowledge.

Please vote no on the Carbon County Fire District measure. If there is a need to increase the county fire budget, we should all support it based on those needs. Give us all the right to vote!

Robert Kelley,

Encampment