To the Editor:

I read your article “County mulls meals, motel taxes” (Wednesday, March 25) and found it to be shocking but not a surprise.

We are experiencing an economic crisis that our country has not seen in most of our lifetimes. Unemployment is growing daily throughout our country, state and Western Tidewater. Our banking industry is in a crisis, and real estate values are declining.

In these economic times it is unbelievable that Southampton County would be considering increasing real estate taxes as well as enacting additional taxes. Practically every county and city have made it clear that each department would have to make the necessary cuts in budgets for the next fiscal year to operate without any additional revenue coming from tax increases.

This means that each department is expected to receive less revenue than they were budgeted for the current fiscal year because the total tax revenue is anticipated to be down next year as a result of the recession that currently exists.

I encourage every member of our Board of Supervisors to publicly take a stand that they will not vote for an increase in real estate taxes or an increase in any other taxes, nor will they enact any additional taxes or fees at this critical time.

An increase in taxes would only result in the economic conditions becoming more severe at a time when we need to do everything possible to assist our local businesses and citizens recover. If you want unemployment to grow, the recession to deepen and our home values to decrease, I encourage you to increase our real estate taxes and enact new taxes and fees. I would also encourage you to make additional plans for your spare time as we will vote you out of office.

Sheldon C. Worrell Jr.

Newsoms