Dear Commissioners Bill McCarrier, Dale Pinkerton and Jim Eckstein:

I have been a resident of Butler County living in Valencia for 45 years. I built my home after buying property in 1971. My children were raised there and graduated from Mars Area High School then went on to college.

Recently after receiving my county tax notice, I saw that the line item County Debt and Local Debt are still itemized. I have a few questions regarding these line items since the tax is not trivial dollars and cents.

First of all, what is this debt? Who is responsible and accountable for creating it and paying it off and reducing it to zero? I understand that these line items have been on the Butler County Tax Notice since the year 2002. I think there are millions of dollars involved in collecting these taxes since 2002. It seems to me that the debt created back then should be paid off by now or is this a convenient way to get Butler County residents to ante up more taxes?

I always thought that local ordinances and law did not permit the county or school districts budgets to go into debt. Did I miss something along the way that would give me a better understanding of what this debt tax is all about?

I think that there are many residents in Butler County like me who don’t understand why we are still being taxed for this debt.