CITY SPENDING IS OUT OF CONTROL

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 1, 1993                   TAG: 9304010410
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-16   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
CITY SPENDING IS OUT OF CONTROL
I WOULD like to congratulate Stephen Vassar on his March 14 letter to the editor ("Time for city of Roanoke to cut spending").
I agree with him 100 percent. It's about time our officials cut spending. They're spending money like it's going out of style.
It's hard to believe what the city has spent in the past few years, and taxpayers have no say at all. It's time for every taxpayer in Roanoke to write our elected officials and tell them how we feel.
Vassar says his real-estate tax has gone up for the past four years. I can't seem to remember a year that it didn't go up. A few years ago, our real-estate tax was around $200 a year. Now it's nearly $700. And we can look forward to another raise every year. I think taxpayers should have a vote on these large spending bills. Or are our city manager and City Council afraid to put it before the people?
Come on, people, speak up. Let's let our elected officials know exactly how we feel. JAMES B. STUMP ROANOKE

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB