I’ve been watching the news about both Buncombe County and the City of Asheville proposing tax increases to balance their budgets due to losses caused by Helene. 

Why can’t governments cut spending to balance the budgets — like taxpayers have to do? 

Wouldn’t it be nice if taxpayers who suffered devastating losses due to Helene could just force employers, who are also taxpayers and who suffered too, to pay them more to make up their shortfall? 

Isn’t that exactly what local governments are proposing to do to taxpayers? 

Isn’t that abusing already suffering taxpayers?

What do you think?

EDITOR’S NOTE: Summey also posted the statement above on his Facebook page.

Buncombe’s proposed school budget needs to be questioned 

Buncombe County’s public school budget is racing past $121 million, even as reading scores stall and money vanishes into questionable programs. 

The school board just approved $3 million in construction projects—despite a nearly $4 million shortfall.

This is what happens when union-aligned voices dominate public meetings and taxpayers stay silent.

It’s time for the rest of us to speak up. Show up for the June 3 meeting of the County Commission and the June 5 meeting of the School Board to remind our elected officials that fiscal responsibility still matters. I hope others who are tired of being ignored will join.

If we don’t show up, we shouldn’t be surprised when they keep spending like accountability doesn’t exist.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following letter to the editor from Kristen M. Burns-Warren refers to what she calls “the new Jake Tapper book.” Published by Penguin Random House, the book is “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, And His Disastrous Choice To Run Again” by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.

Also, it should be noted that the Daily Planet publishes an array of columnists, from left, center and right (including far-leftist Bill Press), in an effort to provide thought-provoking viewpoints. The newspaper’s publishing of Press’ work does not mean it agrees with him.

‘Spin doctoring’ by Bill Press awaited over Biden cover-up

I can’t wait to read the Bill Press spin doctoring on this that your newspaper will probably publish!!

Bill Press will probably press on how this whole idea to get answers about a sitting president of the United States’ health (because this is Joe Biden in question... not President Donald Trump) is ridiculous.

And he will just go with  the minuscule information provided to the public all those years by his personal physician (also, a Biden family business affiliation) and won’t bother to rehash asking why, after all these years, Joe Biden refused to take a single cognitive test.

Bill Press will probably press on, in his long-winded-but-allowed opinion column, changing subjects to blame Trump and the hateful and so despised by him “magas,” for this insensitive questioning... and Bill Press probably will never write these words:

• Auto pen gate

• Garage gate

• BIDEN’s cognitive cover up in news

• Biden’s 2019 enlarged prostate surgery

• Joe Biden in news questionable pardons