Many questions still remain in Frederick Road construction project

Letters to the editor
Published: April 23, 2008

Many questions still remain in Frederick Road construction project

Let me see if I have this straight: Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller makes a unilateral decision to change the design of the Frederick Road widening project that will delay the beginning of project and require redrawing of plans, which will add to the cost of the project, not to mention the wasted time, effort and money already spent.

The expressed reason for this 12th hour change is because merchants along the route were concerned about access to their businesses if the road had a median.

While five lanes makes a lot more sense than four lanes and median, the time to have considered this alternative was before the project had advanced to this point.

I am reminded of the excruciating delays in completing the first phase of Frederick Road widening, and this phase has all the earmarks of a repeat performance. The question I have is who (in city government) signed off on the original plans for four lanes and a median?

Or, am I naive to assume someone is actually minding the store? 

Ken Lashley
Opelika

Everyone will benefit from not having to pay extra 4 cents on groceries

I am puzzled and dismayed by the opposition to the Tax Fairness Amendment to remove sales tax from groceries by Gov. Bob Riley and Rep. Mike Hubbard, and make up the lost revenue by having the well-off pay more income tax. Isn’t this consistent with Amendment 1 they convinced me to actively campaign for in 2003? It was through information provided by that campaign that I became aware of how extensively Alabama’s tax system is skewed toward the wealthy.

Rep. Hubbard is quoted as pointing out that the people who would pay more are already paying the majority of taxes. True. But the more important truth is that they are paying a much smaller percentage of their income in taxes and have a whole lot more left over than do those in the $20,000 to $50,000 category. If you stop and think, it is probably because of the services of people in this income category — secretaries, sales staff, technicians, laborers — that the top 20 percent have amassed their wealth.

An additional point is that the wealthy are the ones who benefit most from Alabama’s low property tax. This is painfully true when compared to those who cannot afford to own their own home. Those who rent pay double the property tax homeowners do because of the higher assessment rate on “income producing property.” For a house or apartment to be income producing the owner passes the tax on to the renter.

The strength of the Knight bill is that it is revenue neutral. We’re told that the revenue collected by the state is below projections, and more money is needed to avoid cuts in education and other services. It would be irresponsible to ignore these needs.

Everyone will benefit from not having to pay those extra 4 cents on groceries whether one is buying steak or beans. Perhaps they underestimate the generosity of the upper 30 percent of tax payers by assuming they would begrudge giving the lower income citizens a break.

Ruth Autrey Gynther
Auburn